Phenotypic Plasticity Concepts and Recent Advances

Plasticity is a unique attribute by which the otherwise sessile plant species are capable of adjusting to environmental vagaries by changing their phenotypic and morphological characters. Any plant population will be able to survive only if it can respond to an extremely variable environment by becoming more plastic and more genetically variable. Plasticity helps plants to adapt to new environmental conditions, after migration to new geographical areas, by genetic assimilation of traits that can help to improve their performance under a new set of conditions. Phenotypic plasticity is seen at every stage of plant growth and development. Physiological, morphological and anatomical plasticity can have different roles in enhancing plant adaptations. One of the expressions of plant phenotypic plasticity is the modification of leaf traits in different light environments. Plant species have an optimum range of temperature requirement for growth and development. Studies indicate that soil type and altitude affect the above ground resource accumulation and flowering phenology of plants.