Table Of ContentEcological Studies, Vol. 220
Analysis and Synthesis
Edited by
M.M. Caldwell, Washington, USA
G. Heldmaier, Marburg, Germany
R.B. Jackson, Durham, USA
O.L. Lange, Wu¨rzburg, Germany
H.A. Mooney, Stanford, USA
E.-D. Schulze, Jena, Germany
U. Sommer, Kiel, Germany
Forfurthervolumesseelistattheendofthebookand:
http://www.springer.com/series/86
.
Rainer Matyssek (cid:129) Hans Schnyder (cid:129) Wolfgang
Oßwald (cid:129) Dieter Ernst (cid:129) Jean Charles Munch (cid:129) Hans
Pretzsch
Editors
Growth and Defence in Plants
Resource Allocation at Multiple Scales
Editors
ProfessorDr.RainerMatyssek ProfessorDr.HansSchnyder
TechnischeUniversit€atM€unchen TechnischeUniversit€atM€unchen
ChairofEcophysiologyofPlants Lehrstuhlf€urGr€unlandlehre
Freising,Germany Freising,Germany
ProfessorDr.WolfgangOßwald Dr.Dieter Ernst
TechnischeUniversit€atM€unchen HelmholtzZentrumM€unchen
PhytopathologyofWoodyPlants InstituteofBiochemicalPlantBiology
Freising,Germany Neuherberg,Germany
ProfessorDr.JeanCharlesMunch ProfessorDr.HansPretzsch
HelmholtzZentrumM€unchen TechnischeUniversit€atM€unchen
InstituteofSoilEcology ChairofForestGrowthandYieldScience
Neuherberg,Germany Freising,Germany
ISSN0070-8356
ISBN978-3-642-30644-0 ISBN978-3-642-30645-7(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-642-30645-7
SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2012948418
#Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2012
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To our late colleague and friend,
Prof. Dr. Heinrich Sandermann jr.
({ August 18, 2009), who was one
of the initiators and members of the
interdisciplinary research program
SFB 607 “Growth and Parasite
Defence in Plants – Competition for
Resources in Economic Plants from
Agronomy and Forestry”, giving rise
to this book project, but to whom it
was not granted to see its completion.
.
Prologue
A New View on Systems Biology: Information, Knowledge,
Understanding
Cost/Benefit Scenarios and the Dilemma of Growth and Defence
Cost/benefit relations determine the functions of plants in natural ecosystems as
well as anthropogenically formed agro- and forestry ecosystems. Under the influ-
ence of abiotic and biotic cues, they regulate the dynamics in the realm of the
opposingforcesofgrowthanddefence(Chap.1).Inthecompetitionforresources
thedilemmahasthecostsofproductivityontheonehandandofsurvivalofstress
ontheotherhand.
Talking of a dilemma we must ask the question if there are in fact options of
ways out of it. Evidently, like all living organisms plants are also open systems
subjecttonon-lineardynamicsinspaceandtime.Thisimpliesthatspatio-temporal
developmentsunderaplethoraofexternalcuesandtheopposingforcesofgrowth
and defence inevitably lead to branching points where alternatives or options are
given,butwherechancemayeventuallyalsoleadthewayintodeterministicchaos.
Thelatterisaninherentprobleminevaluationsofthedegreesofpossiblepredict-
abilityinallsystemswithnon-lineardynamics(Schuster1995).Optionsinspatio-
temporal responses of plants under the dilemma of growth and defence and
potential predictability are the central themes underlying the hypotheses and
conceptsevaluatedinthisbook.
Scenariosaredominatedby
(cid:129) differentlifeformsandtypesofhabitats,viz.grasslandandforest,
(cid:129) competition (Chaps. 17 and 18), abiotic stress (ozone, elevated CO , nitrogen
2
nutrition),pathogens(Chaps.3and5),herbivores(Chap.4),symbionts(Chaps.
5and10),
(cid:129) ontogeneticdevelopment(Chap.11),
vii
viii Prologue
(cid:129) types of resources, e.g. originating from the soil (Chaps. 9 and 10),
from aboveground components, from the atmosphere, of the solar radiation
(Chap.8),ofspaceitselfasaresource(Chap.12,GramsandL€uttge2010),
(cid:129) allocation, partitioning and consumption of resources in allometry relations
(Chaps.6,7,9,11–18).
These scenarios are elements of the formation of integrative networks within
various scalar levels which are also connected between each other over both
ascending and descending scales and thus can form supra-networks. This
determines a new view on systems biology in an ecological context (Chap. 19),
which must advance from information via knowledge towards understanding
(Liessmann2008), i.e. frompurely descriptivecompilation ofdata via correlative
interpretation of processes towards reflection and causal assessment. Combining
theapproachesofexperiment,theoryandmodellingdevelopspredictivepoweron
thebasisofunderstandingobservedpastevents.
An Architectural Metaphor
In a metaphoric way we may visualise the architecture of the
Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) “Wachstum und Parsitenabwehr – Wettbewerb
um Ressourcen in Nutzpflanzen aus Land- und Forstwirtschaft”, from whose
work the present volume is emerging, like the knots and edges of networks. We
mayconsidertheexperimentalapproachesontwobasicallydifferentlevelsastwo
columnsortowers(knots)whichbylongwings(edges)areconnectedtotheoryand
modelling(knot).
I cannot imagine a better way of depicting this than choosing the Castle of
Hirschberg above the city of Beilngries in the valley of the Altm€uhl in Central
Bavaria. For more than a decade the SFB had regular internal meetings there for
brainstormingandstrategyplanning.Whenwearriveatthecastlewepassthetwo
towersandweseethetwowingsofthebuildingguidingourviewinaremarkably
suggestivewaytowardstheentrance(Fig.1).Thearchitectmanagedthisbyhaving
thetwowingsinanangleandmuchwiderapartfromeachotheratthestartthanat
theendwiththeentrance.Letusconsiderthetwotowersasthetwosectionsofthe
SFB. One of the towers (one knot) of the SFB or its section A (Chaps. 2–5) is
linkingmolecularbiologywithbiochemistryandphysiology(Chap.2)and,thus,is
developingmolecularecologyof
(cid:129) geneinductionandtranscription,
(cid:129) proteinsandenzymeactivities,
(cid:129) primaryandsecondarymetabolism,
(cid:129) signallingbyphytohormonesandmetabolites.
The other tower (knot) of the SFB, its section B (Chaps. 6–14), is developing
physiologicalecologyattheorganismic,standandecosystemlevels,with
Prologue ix
Fig.1 HirschbergCastleofthebishopricofEichst€attabovethecityofBeilngriesinthevalleyof
theAltm€uhl(photographs:K.-H.H€aberle)
(cid:129) primaryproduction,allocation,partitioningandallometry,
(cid:129) occupationofspaceaboveandbelowground,
(cid:129) theuseofreservesunderstressofresourceavailability,ozonepollution,elevated
atmosphericCO ,pathogenattack.
2
x Prologue
With the two wings the two towers are connected to the entrance, section C
(Chaps. 15–19) of the SFB. What is this an entrance to? Transduction of the
informationandknowledgesensuLiessmann(2008)fromthetwosections,towers
orknotsAandBviathewingsoredgesintosectionorknotCentersthewealthof
observations (information) and interpretations (knowledge) into understanding
sensuLiessmann(2008)asprobedandadvancedby
(cid:129) statisticalmodelling(Chap.16),
(cid:129) mechanisticmodelling(Chaps.14,15,17and18),
(cid:129) integrationviaabstraction.
Thus, metaphorically we can see that, as in the most compelling way in which
the two wings of the castle guide our anticipation to arrive towards the entrance,
sectionsAandBoftheSFBfunnelourattentiontowardstheintegrationbytheory
andmodellingofsectionC.
What Is a “System” in Biology?
TheextremeviewisGaiaconsideringthewholebiosphereasonesinglesystemor
onemega-organism(Lovelock1979,2009).
Inthe life sciences theterm “systemsbiology” originated fromdescribingvast
accumulations of data in “genomics”, and in a noteworthy inflationary fashion it
now covers all kinds of “-omics”, such as transcriptomics, proteomics,
metabolomics and channelomics. The present book presents examples of such
databases (Chaps. 2–5). Remarkably comprehensive sets of data on mineral
macro- and micro-nutrients in plants have also been obtained (Chap. 9). In the
SFB this has been called “mineralomics”. The term “ionomics“ is somewhat of a
misnomerintheliterature(Saltetal.2008)aslongasitrefersonlytoinorganicions
anddoesnotcompriseontheonehandthewealthoforganicionsimportantinthe
functioning of organisms and realise on the other hand that many minerals in
organismsoccurandfunctioninnon-ionicboundorchelatedstates.Intheveinof
a certain omics-inflation we may also allude to the necessity of considering
structuralorfunctionalcomplements,i.e.“anatomics”or“functionomics”.
However, are such data bases “systems”? They are really nothing more than
primary information. They constitute a necessary basis but themselves they have
nothingtodowithknowledgewhichmustbeadvancedfromtheinformation.
Anotherwayoflookingfromamolecularpointofviewtosystemsistoconsider
specifickeyfunctionswhichareoftenexpressedbymanydifferentisogenescoding
differentisoenzymes.Interestinglyabioticstressduetoozoneandbioticstressdue
to pathogen attack may elicit very similar reactions at the molecular level, viz.
transcription (Chap. 2). The translational and post-translational regulation and
modulationofisoenzymeactivitiesaswellastheirlocalisationandcompartmenta-
tioncancharacterisethespatio-temporalfunctioningofthesystemsofwholeplants
or even higher integrated consortia, such as host/parasite or host/symbiont
