Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research
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Ariel
Novoplansky
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Ph.D. 1990, The
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Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research,
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Section of Evolution and Ecology, College of Biological Sciences, University of California, Davis 95616,
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Tel: 972-8-6596820 Fax: 972-8-6596821 |
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Evolutionary ecology of plants, phenotypic plasticity,
morphogenesis, competition, eco-devo, signal perception, communication, non-cognitive
behavior, evolution, roots, self/nonself discrimination, red/far-red, allelopathy,
developmental hierarchies, stress biology, community ecology, biodiversity, conservation. |
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The focus of my work is the ecology of developmental
plasticity in plants. Developmental plasticity can be defined as the
ability to execute morphogenetical decisions based on perceived information.
Developmental plasticity plays a major role in the adaptation of both animals
and plants to heterogeneous environments and is thought to be of particular
importance in plants because of their limited motility and lack of cognition.
In my research I am working to bridge the gulf between physiological, ecological and evolutionary
approaches. Though the emphasis of my research is on adaptations and
behaviors of individual plants, I am also studying the consequences of
developmental plasticity at higher organizational levels. The premise is
that an interdisciplinary and multi-hierarchical approach can advance our
understanding of plant adaptation to changing environments.
Evolution, upper-level undergraduate and graduate levels, Department of Life
Sciences,
Evolutionary Ecology of Phenotypic Plasticity, graduate level,
Projects in Evolution, upper-level undergraduate course, Department of Life
Sciences,
Tutorial in Evolution, self-study in evolution,
Camp Evolution, concentrated graduate course featuring a distinguished
guest lecturer,
Dr. Omer Falik, Research Associate
Tania Acuna, technician.
Yonat Morduch, technician.
Michal Gruntman,
Ph.D. student.
Hagai Guterman,
Ph.D. student.
Jennie MacLaren, Ph.D. student (
Osama Al Joaba,
M.Sc. student
Li Jiahong, post-doc 1995-6 à
Hagit Volin-Shilo, M.Sc. 1999
Ayelet Danino, M.Sc. 1999
Zhang Fengchun, M.Sc. 2000. à
Anna Sher, post-doc 1998-2000 à
Chris Lortie, Ph.D. 2001 à
Tania Acuna, M.Sc. 2001
Omer Falik, Ph.D. 2002
Clara Ariza, M.Sc. 2003 à
Barak Guzner, M.Sc. 2005 à Weizmann Institute
of Science, Fuculty of Chemistry.
Asaf Raz, M.Sc. 2005.
Efrat Eliezer, M.Sc. 2005.
Yafei Wang, M.Sc. 2006
Samson Nyanumba, M.Sc. 2007 à
Refereed
1.
Novoplansky, A., D. Cohen and T. Sachs (1989) Ecological implications of
correlative inhibition between plant shoots. Physiologia Plantarum 77: 136-140.
2.
Novoplansky, A., D. Cohen and T. Sachs (1990) How Portulaca seedlings avoid their neighbours. Oecologia
(
3.
Novoplansky, A., T. Sachs, D. Cohen, R. Bar, J. Budenheimer and R.
Reisfeld (1990) Increasing plant productivity by changing the solar spectrum. Solar
Energy Materials 21: 17-23.
4.
Novoplansky, A. (1991) Developmental responses of Portulaca
seedlings to conflicting spectral signals, Oecologia 88: 138-40.
5.
Sachs, T., A. Novoplansky and D. Cohen (1993) Plants as competing
populations of redundant organs, Plant Cell and Environment, 16:
765-770.
6.
Novoplansky, A., D. Cohen and T. Sachs (1994) Responses of an annual
plant to temporal changes in light environment: an interplay between plasticity
and determination, Oikos 69: 437-446.
7. Sachs, T. and A. Novoplansky (1995) Tree
form: architecture models do not suffice. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences
43:203-212, commissioned.
8. Novoplansky, A., (1996) Hierarchy among
potentially similar buds in two-shoot plants. Plant Cell and Environment
19: 781-786.
9. Novoplansky, A. (1996) Developmental
responses of individual Onobrychis plants to spatial heterogeneity, Vegetatio
127: 31-39.
10. Goldberg, D. and A. Novoplansky (1997) On the relative
importance of competition in unproductive environments. Journal of Ecology
85: 409-418.
11. Sachs, T. and A. Novoplansky
(1997) What does aclonal organization suggest concerning clonal plants? in de
Kroon, H. and J. van Groenendael (eds.) The Ecology and Evolution of Clonal Growth
in Plants, pp. 55-78, SPB Academic Publishing,
12.
Novoplansky, A. and D. Cohen (1997) The mutual distribution of competing
root systems: a stationary model, in A. Altman and Y. Waisel (eds.), Biology of
Root formation and Development, pp. 353-364, Plenum, New-York, N.Y.
13. Feuermann, D. and A.
Novoplansky (1998) Reversible low heat gain windows for energy savings. Solar Energy Journal 62(3): 169-175.
14. Jiahong
Li, Moshe Sagi, Joseph Gale, Micha Volokita, and Ariel Novoplansky (1999), Response
of Tomato Plants to Saline Water as Affected by Carbon Dioxide Supplementation.
I: Growth, Yield and Fruit Quality.
The Journal of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology, 74:
232-237.
15. Jiahong Li,
Joseph Gale, Ariel Novoplansky, Simon Barak and Micha Volokita (1999), Response
of Tomato Plants to Saline Water as Affected by Carbon Dioxide Supplementation.
II: Physiological and Biochemical Responses. The Journal of Horticultural Science &
Biotechnology, 74: 238-242.
16. Jiahong
Li, Joseph Gale, Tamar Sinai, Micha Volokita and A. Novoplansky (2000) Effect of leaf variegation on acclimation of
photosynthesis and growth response to elevated CO2. The Journal of
Horticultural Science & Biotechnology, 75: 679-683.
17.
Novoplansky, A. and D. Goldberg (2001) Interactions between neighbor
environment and drought resistance, Journal of Arid Environments,
47:11-32.
18.
Novoplansky, A. and D. Goldberg (2001), Effects of water pulsing on
individual performance and competition hierarchies in plants. Journal of Vegetation Science 12:
199-208. PDF
19. Novoplansky, A. (2001) IPCC Third Assessment
Report on Climate Change",
Contributing author, 2nd volume: “Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability”, commissioned.
20.
Novoplansky, A. (2002) Phenotypic plasticity in plants: Implications of
non-cognitive behavior. Evolutionary Ecology 16(3): 177-188. PDF
21. Falik, O.,
P. Raides, M. Gersani, and A. Novoplansky (2003) Self/nonself discrimination in
roots, Journal of Ecology 91: 525-531. PDF
22. Elli Groner and Ariel Novoplansky (2003)
Reconsidering diversity-productivity relationships in plants and animals:
trophic levels matter, Ecology Letters 6: 695-699. PDF
23. Novoplansky,
A. (2003) Ecological implications of the determination of branch hierarchies, New
Phytologist 160: 111-118. PDF
24. Sher, A.,
Goldberg, D., Novoplansky, A. (2004) The effect of mean and variance in
resource supply on survival of annuals from
25. Chesson,
P., Gebauer, R. L. E., Sher, A., Schwinning, S., Wiegand, K., Ernest, M. S. K.,
Huntly, N., Novoplansky, A., and Weltzin, J. F. (2004) Resource pulses, species
interactions and diversity maintenance in arid and semi-arid environments, Oecologia
141: 236-253. PDF
26. Gruntman,
M. and Novoplansky, A. (2004) Physiologically-mediated self/nonself
discrimination in roots, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA
101: 3863-3867. PDF
27. Shilo-Volin, H.,
A. Novoplansky, D. Goldberg and R. Turkington (2005) Density regulation in annual plant
communities under variable resource levels, Oikos 108: 241-252. PDF
28. Kark, S, S. Volis, and A. Novoplansky (2005),
Biodiversity and conservation of natural populations along core-periphery
distribution clines, in M. Shachak, S.T.A. Pickett, J.R. Gosz and A.
Pervolotsky, Biodiversity in Drylands: Towards a Unified Framework, Oxford
University Press, commissioned.
29. Falik, O., Reides, P., Gersani, M. and
Novoplansky, A. (2005) Root navigation by self inhibition, Plant Cell &
Environment 28: 562-569. PDF
30. Lortie, C. J., Ellis, E., Novoplansky, A. and
Turkington, R. (2005) Implications of spatial pattern of local density on
community-level interactions, Oikos 109: 495-502. PDF
31. Falik, O., de Kroon, H. and Novoplansky, A. (2006) Physiologically-mediated self/nonself root discrimination in Trifolium repens has mixed effects on plant performance, Plant Signaling and Behavior 1: 116-121.
32.
Guzner, B., Novoplansky, A. and Chadwick, N.E. (2007) Population dynamics of
the reef-building coral Acropora hemprichii as an indicator of reef condition, Marine
Ecology Progress Series, in press.
33. Sammul,
M., Kull, T., Kull, K. and Novoplansky,
A. (2008) Generality, specificity and
diversity of clonal plant research, Evolutionary Ecology, in press.
34. Novoplansky,
A. (2008) Tsvi Sachs (1936 – 2007), Evolutionary Ecology, in press.
35. Herben,
T. and Novoplansky, A. (2008) Implications of self/nonself discrimination for
spatial patterning of clonal plants, Evolutionary Ecology, in press.
Collective volumes
Novoplansky, A. (2002) Developmental
plasticity in plants, Evolutionary Ecology 2002, vol. 16(3): 177-307.
The special issue includes papers by Ariel Novoplansky, Carl Schlichting and Harry Smith, Thomas Givnish, Tsvi Sachs, Pamela Diggle, Peter Alpert and Ellen Sims, and Philip Grime and Mackey. It
tackles key interdisciplinary questions in the study of developmental
plasticity and is based on the discussions held at the international workshop on plant phenotypic plasticity.
Sammul, M., Kull, T, and A. Novoplansky
(2008), Clonality and clonal plants, Evolutionary Ecology. A special issue
dedicated to the ecology, evolution and evolutionary ecology of clonality and
clonal plants.
Chapters in collective volumes
1. Novoplansky A, Shoshany H, Assenhaim D,
Schnizer M, Eyal M, Chernyak V,
Reisfeld R (1990) Greenhouse cover for
morphogenetic signaling. In: Segal, I
(ed), Proceedings of the
International Seminar and British-Israeli Workshop on
Greenhouse Technology, pp 119-129, commissioned.
2. Feuermann, D. and A. Novoplansky (1996)
Turning low solar heat gain
windows into energy savers in winter. Proceedings
of the 21st National
Passive Solar Conference, American
Solar Energy Society,
Ashville, North
Information processing and developmental integration – An
important consequence of plastic development is that plants constantly perceive
and integrate external information regarding present and expected resource
levels, and internal information regarding the function and relative success of
different organs on the same plant. The integration of external and internal
information allows plants to allocate limited resources to more successful
organs, organs that develop in more promising conditions or those that are more
vigorous and expected to contribute more in the long run. In addition, correlative development of
different organs on the same plant may allow the plant to avoid competition
with its own organs and increase its performance, e.g. by allocating more
resources to organs that compete with nonself neighbors. These behaviors
demonstrate the dual nature of morphogenetical controls in plants- the same
mechanisms allow plants more efficient self-organization and better performance
in the presence of nonself competitors.
Signal perception and plastic decisions- Since
developmental processes take time, there is an advantage to adjusting to
expected environmental changes through the utilization of signals (e.g.
red/far-red ratios) that are correlated with conditions relevant to development
long before these conditions are experienced.
Early perception and reaction to potentially competing neighbors, even
before they influence actual resource levels, have enormous adaptive value in
competitive natural situations, yet early perception and reaction could cause
significant inefficiencies in agricultural systems. It was shown that altering
of spectral signals in horticultural systems triggers sun-loving crop plants to
change their morphogenesis to enhance the production of leaves, flowers and
fruits at the expense of other organs of lesser horticultural value.
Plasticity of developmental hierarchies - The
most common and ecologically important expression of developmental plasticity
in plants is size variation. Not only do
size differences result from differences in organ number and/or size but also
from their "telescopic hierarchy": larger organs not only consist of
more modular units of the same size, they provide the infrastructure for
additional modules of lower hierarchies. Thus plants possess a plasticity that
influences both the size and number of a wide variety of organs that are
hierarchically constructed e.g., leaves on branches within larger branches or
shoot systems, and flowers within inflorescence units within a large
inflorescence. The hypothesis is that the hierarchical nature of development
provides plants with the ability to respond to environmental signals or changes
by the formation of organs of different size, and that a major type of
developmental plasticity is expressed by the size relationships among different
parts on the same plant rather than by the plant as a whole.
Consequences of developmental plasticity at higher
organizational levels - While many studies of developmental plasticity
examine taxa from different environments and with different growth rates, very
little is known about the consequences of plasticity for population and
community level interactions. Even when developmental plasticity is significant
for the performance of individual members of a population or a community it will
be meaningful only if different members of the population (e.g. plants at
different ages), or community (taxa) utilize different levels or types of
plasticity. Developmental plasticity may
be of great consequence for community-level interactions when resources are
supplied in pulses rather than continuously. In many unproductive environments
plants experience two phases of resource availability: ‘pulse periods’ in which
resources are high and most growth and resource accumulation occur and
interpulse periods when resources are too low for most plants to take up and
most mortality due to resource deficits occurs. According to the ‘two-phase
resource dynamics hypothesis’ (Goldberg and Novoplansky 1997) the effects of
competition on growth should occur during pulses at both high and low
productivity. In productive
environments, interpulse intervals should be relatively mild and infrequent and
therefore competitive effects during pulses will usually be important for individual
and population persistence. However, as
productivity decreases, the frequency and magnitude of pulses often decreases
and the duration of interpulse periods increases. Accordingly, it is suggested that processes
occurring during interpulse intervals become increasingly important for
individual and population persistence as interpulse intervals become longer.
Whether or not competition occurs under low productivity will then depend on a)
the extent to which the asymptotically low resource availability during
interpulse periods is determined by plant uptake or by abiotic factors such as
leaching, drainage, evaporation, and volatization and b) the extent to which
decreased growth due to competition during pulses results in decreased survival
during interpulse periods. Studying the effect of both the frequency of water
pulses and the total amount of water on individual performance of three desert
bunch grasses in the absence and presence of neighbors it was shown that under
frequent pulses, the fast-growing species from the most productive environment
was the best effect- and response-competitor.
However, under infrequent pulses, the slowest growing species from the
least productive environment became a much stronger competitor. While, in the
absence of competition, total water availability had greater effects than
pulsing regime on individual plant performance, pulsing regime, in the presence
of competition, had much stronger effects on relative competitive abilities and
thus may be more likely to influence field distribution patterns.
1. Developmental plasticity of self/non-self
discrimination in plants.
2. Hierarchy establishment of redundant organs
in plants.
3. Plant communication.
4. Signal perception and preemptive adaptive
responses in plants.
4. Effects of plant functional groups on
vegetation dynamics and ecosystem properties. In collaboration with Roy Turkington,
5. The roles of collective species dynamics and
spatial symmetry breaking in arid environments. In collaboration with Ehud Meron
and Moshe Shachak, BIDR.
6. The ecological implications of afforestation
in semi-arid regions.
7. Mechanisms of
plant invasion. In collaboration with Ray Callaway,
Students
who are interested in working on Plant Evolutionary and developmental
Ecology are welcome to contact us for more details.
Upcoming:
Past:
Phenotypic plasticity in plants: consequences of non-cognitive behavior,
Sede-Boker, March 15-19, 1998.
Biodiversity in Drylands: towards a unified framework and identification
of research needs, Beer-Sheva, June 27-28, 1999.
Camp Evolution, conference on sympatric speciation and
evolution of sex, March 20-24, 2005, Blaustein Institute for Desert Research.
Physiological and ecological aspects of responses to internal and
environmental cues, Symposium at the XVII International
Botanical Congress,
Camp Evolution II, workshop on Evolutionary and
Ecological Genomics, March 26-30, 2006, Blaustein Institutes for Desert
Research and Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies.
Ecological and Evolutionary consequences of phenotypic plasticity in
plants, April 3-7, 2006,
Camp Evolution III, workshop on Human Evolutionary
Genetics, March 25-29, 2007, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research and
Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies.
Evolution of Desert Environments, March 4-9, 2007, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research,
Camp Evolution IV, Unsolved Problems in
Evolutionary Biology, April 2008, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research and
Updated, Aug
13, 2008