Plant responses to UV-B: Time to look beyond stratospheric ozone depletion?

Abstract

These observations link back to the study of de la Rosa et al. (2001; in this issue) who placed the responses of secondary metabolites to UV-B in the context of comparable responses to nutrient supply, which have been widely studied. Variation in UV-B, like nutrient supply, is clearly a potent factor influencing plant chemical composition. UV-B induced changes in secondary metabolites are complex, but taken with other responses, such as altered leaf morphology and nitrogen concentration, might be expected to have a wide range of effects, not least on plant interactions with herbivores and pathogens. Do such responses to ambient UV-B have ecological significance in the context, for example, variation between foliage in different areas of a canopy, between plants in more or less shaded sites, or between plants growing at different altitude? Similarly, what contribution do the photomorphogenic effects of UV-B make to their overall response to the light environment? Papers such as the one by de la Rosa et al. (2001) highlight a way forward in which the technologies, methodologies and scientific understanding developed for ozone depletion research can be applied to address these much wider biological questions.