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How do plants adapt to drought and heat? New studies on plants of the Canary Islands show that adaptation is not determined by a single character but by the interaction of entire sets of characters. Even closely related plants can follow very different paths.
Apparently, the survival strategies of succulent plants are much more diverse than just a photosynthesis mechanism adapted to water scarcity. In fact, plants in arid regions develop a whole bundle of additional characters in order to be optimally adapted to their environment. In climate chamber experiments at the Botanical Garden Munich-Nymphenburg, researchers have now discovered that even closely related plants from the same location sometimes combine very different traits and characteristics.
Two research teams led by Prof. Dr. Gudrun Kadereit, Dr. Thibaud Messerschmid, and Dr. Jessica Berasategui, from the Bavarian State Collections of Natural History (SNSB), studied the succulent plant genera Aeonium and Aichryson, both native to the Canary Islands. Both plant genera use the water-saving CAM photosynthesis (crassulacean acid metabolism), which is also found, among others, in cacti. The plants close the stomata of their leaves on hot, dry days and only “breathe” at night.
The experiments have now shown what additional adaptations the plants use to protect themselves from dehydration. For example, Aeonium plants have a distinctive protective mechanism: the more CAM photosynthesis occurs in these plants, the more effectively the thin waxy layer on their leaf surfaces, the cuticle, protects against water loss. "Our comparisons of 80% of all Aeonium species have revealed the connection between these seemingly independent characters. It is quite obvious that this adaptation strategy has already been established and stabilized itself in the course of evolution," says Dr. Thibaud Messerschmid, an expert on cacti and succulents at the Botanical Garden.
Plants of the Canary Island genus Aichryson vary in their response to drought depending on their location: some species are adapted to more humid regions, others to drier ones. Plants from humid climates always have a short life cycle, and some of them have even lost their ability to optionally switch on CAM photosynthesis. Aichryson plants in dry regions, on the other hand, have a stronger CAM photosynthesis, a perennial lifestyle, shrub-like growth, and strong transpiration protection through their cuticle.
"Archipelagos such as the Canary Islands are ideal ‘natural laboratories of evolution’ for us. We observe very different survival strategies among the plant species as adaptations to very diverse environmental conditions. Our findings are particularly relevant in the context of climate change. They illustrate that the resilience of plants to drought and heat depends not only on extreme adaptations, but also on flexibility. We see that there are several evolutionary pathways to respond to environmental change", says Dr. Jessica Berasategui, first author of the Aichryson study.
Dr. Thibaud Messerschmid
SNSB - Botanical Garden Munich-Nymphenburg
Tel.: 089 17861 370
E-Mail: messerschmid@snsb.de
Dr. Jessica Berasategui
SNSB – Botanische Staatssammlung München
& LMU München, Fakultät für Biologie
E-Mail: berasategui@snsb.de
Messerschmid, T.F.E., de Vos, J.M., Hamburger, S.E., Berasategui, J.A. and Kadereit, G. (2026), Stronger expression of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) requires effective cuticular transpiration barriers but not necessarily strong succulence. New Phytol 249: 2760–2775 https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70909
Berasategui, J. A., Messerschmid, T.F.E., Abrahamczyk, S., Bañares-Baudet, Á., Bobon, N., and Kadereit G. (2026). Evolutionary Changes in Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) and Related Traits During the Diversification of Aichryson (Crassulaceae) on the Macaronesian Islands. Ecology and Evolution 16, no. 1: e72864. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.72864
https://www.snsb.de - Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns (SNSB)
https://botmuc.snsb.de - SNSB-Botanischer Garten München-Nymphenburg
Aichryson parlatorei at its natural habitat in the upper part of the Barranco del Carrizal, municipa ...
Source: Jessica Berasategui
Copyright: SNSB
Aeonium cuneatum in its natural habitat in the undergrowth of a laurel forest in the Anaga Mountains ...
Source: Thibaud Messerschmid
Copyright: SNSB
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