The peculiarity of anatomical and morphological structure of the homosporous fern Woodsia glabella R. Br. (Woodsiaceae) in connection with the petrophytic lifestyle
N. M. DERZHAVINA
Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “Orel State University named after I. S. Turgenev”, Orel, Russia
Keywords: “bunch” biomorph, geophitization, hazmophyte, nanism, petrophyte, phenorhythmotype
Abstract
In this article, the problem of specialization of rock ferns to the effects of environmental factors, realized at the morphological and anatomical level, is considered. The purpose of the article was to analyze the anatomical and morphological structure of the homosporous fern Woodsia glabella to identify its correlation with the petrophytic lifestyle in high latitudes. Woodsia glabella is a Holarctic species collected in the Komi Republic, in the Yugyd-va National Park in the clefts of rocks with moss cover. Based on the study, it was found that this obligate lithophyte (hazmophyte) has a relationship between structural features and extreme living conditions on damp rocks at different levels of the organization. At the organismal and organ levels, this is the nanism of sporophytes, which allows the rosette short-rhizomatous biomorph to occupy a warmer ground-level ecological niche; “bunch” biomorph, long-lasting leaf petioles, protecting the kidneys from the drying effects of cold winds, high temperatures, excessive insolation and transpiration; bunch is also involved in the accumulation of its own humus, providing geophitization, in which bryophilia plays an important role; leaf feathering which increases the overall photosynthetic surface in vegetation conditions during a short summer; a summer-green phenorhythmotype adequate to the climate; a tendency to deciduous and the ability to switch to sporulation in the early phases of ontogenesis with sporangia maturing at different times. At the cellular and tissue level, these are thin feather plates; large, chloroplast-containing epidermal cells with sinuous anticlinal walls; hypostomaticity; homogeneous loose mesophyll; low values of the dry weight of the plates; a small number of relatively large stomata per unit area; the presence of phlobafenes in the petioles that increase the resistance of the fern to changing environmental conditions. This study can shed light on the solution of many issues facing modern botany: the problems of structural evolution of plants, which are based on the processes of differentiation and specialization, diagnostics of species, adaptiogenesis, the doctrine of life forms, etc.
|
