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Human activities that disrupt soil properties are fundamentally changing ecosystems. Soil degradation decreases microbial abundance and activity, leading to changes in nutrient availability, soil organic matter, and plant growth and establishment. Land use and land cover change are widespread and increasing in semiarid regions of the southwestern US, which results in reductions of native plant and microbial abundance and community diversity. Here we studied the effects of soil degradation and amendments (biochar and woodchips) on microbial activity, soil carbon and nitrogen availability, and plant growth of ten semi-arid plants species native to the southwestern US. Results show that woodchip amendments result in poor overall plant growth, while biochar amended soils promoted plant growth when soil quality was reduced. Additionally, amendments had a strong influence on microbial activity, while the presence and species identity of plants did not. Biochar amended soils led to increases in the potential activities of enzymes involved in the degradation of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus rich substrates. Woodchips, caused an increase of potential activity in enzymes involved in the degradation of sugar and proteins. These results show that microbes and plants respond differently to soil treatments and suggest that microbial responses may function as earlier indicators of the success of re-vegetation attempts.

<p>Pollination is one of the most important factors determining the reproductive success of plants. This thesis examines processes associated to varying pollination, with focus on plant responses. The first aim was to examine the possibility and constraints for short-term evolution of flower size in <i>Raphanus raphanistrum</i>. The results showed that there exists a possibility for pollinator-mediated short-term evolution of flower size in the study species. Flower size was strongly correlated to plant size. Since flower size cannot evolve separately from plant size, this correlation may constitute a constraint to the evolution of flower size. The second aim was to determine how varying pollen load affects later flowering, reproduction and growth of maternal plants. High pollen load treatment resulted in larger or more flowers on late flowers, which may enhance pollen dispersal and reproductive success, while the total seed mass was the same between treatments. The results indicate that the study species <i>R. raphanistrum</i>, <i>Sinapis arvensis</i> and <i>Brassica napus</i> have plastic responses in floral traits according to the present pollination level. The third aim was to determine how varying pollen load affects seed quality and offspring vigor. The results suggest that high pollen load had no positive effects on seed quality or offspring vigor due to pollen competition. Instead, seed mass determined seed quality and offspring vigor in the three study species and low pollen load treatment resulted in highquality offspring due to heavier seeds. The fourth aim was to examine causes and consequences of variation in reproductive success of <i>Succisa pratensis</i> on a regional scale. The results suggest that the most important variables, on a regional scale, for reproductive success were population size and habitat quality. The results showed that seed weight variation might be important when assessing reproductive success. In this study, seed weight variation did not seem to be adaptive.</p>

Pollination is one of the most important factors determining the reproductive success of plants. This thesis examines processes associated to varying pollination, with focus on plant responses. The first aim was to examine the possibility and constraints for short-term evolution of flower size in Raphanus raphanistrum. The results showed that there exists a possibility for pollinator-mediated short-term evolution of flower size in the study species. Flower size was strongly correlated to plant size. Since flower size cannot evolve separately from plant size, this correlation may constitute a constraint to the evolution of flower size. The second aim was to determine how varying pollen load affects later flowering, reproduction and growth of maternal plants. High pollen load treatment resulted in larger or more flowers on late flowers, which may enhance pollen dispersal and reproductive success, while the total seed mass was the same between treatments. The results indicate that the study species R. raphanistrum, Sinapis arvensis and Brassica napus have plastic responses in floral traits according to the present pollination level. The third aim was to determine how varying pollen load affects seed quality and offspring vigor. The results suggest that high pollen load had no positive effects on seed quality or offspring vigor due to pollen competition. Instead, seed mass determined seed quality and offspring vigor in the three study species and low pollen load treatment resulted in highquality offspring due to heavier seeds. The fourth aim was to examine causes and consequences of variation in reproductive success of Succisa pratensis on a regional scale. The results suggest that the most important variables, on a regional scale, for reproductive success were population size and habitat quality. The results showed that seed weight variation might be important when assessing reproductive success. In this study, seed weight variation did not seem to be adaptive.

La thèse est consacrée à l'étude de la signalisation lipidique comme un mécanisme universel de médiation des réponses cellulaires à phytohormones et élicitors jouant ainsi un rôle clé dans la réorganisation de métabolisme cellulaire pendant l'adaptation de la plante aux changements environnementaux.Phospholipase D (PLD) et son produit acide phosphatidic (PA) ont étés impliqués au cascades de signalisation induites par l’acide salicylique (SA) dans les cellules de garde de Arabidopsis thaliana. On a trouvé une activation de PLD et la production de PA dans les feuilles des plantes après le traitement par SA. En utilisant le marquage radioactif des phospholipides, l'analyse histochimique, les inhibiteurs de la signalisation lipidique et des lignées transgénique des plantes, nous avons montré la participation de la PLD et la NADPH-oxidase RbohD à la formation du superoxyde dans les tissues d’Arabidopsis et à la fermeture des stomates induite par SA.La cooperation entre le SA et l’acide abscisic (ABA) dans la réorganisation de transcriptome induite par ces hormones a été examinée dans la culture de la suspension cellulaire. Tant SA que l'ABA ont inhibé l'activité basale in vivo de phospholipase C dépendante de phosphatidylinositol (PI-PLC), tandis que SA (mais pas ABA) a incité aussi le phosphorylation de phosphatidylinositols. Les transcriptomes de cellules après le traitement par SA ou ABA ont été comparé à ceux obtenus aprés le traitement avec U73122 ou wortmannin. Nous avons trouvé des groupes de gènes, pour qui l'effet d'ABA et des inhibiteurs était semblable; des gènes dependants du SA via l'équilibre des phosphoinositides et des gènes dependants du SA via l’activité de PLD. Basé sur l'analyse bioinformatique de toutes les groupes de gènes choisis, nous proposons le règlement du niveaux des phosphoinositides comme un facteur important dans la regulation du transcriptome basal et également dans les changements du profile transcriptomique induits par l'effet du SA ou d'ABA.L'effet du peptide bactérien flg22 sur l’équilibre des phospholipides a été détecté tant dans des cellules de suspension que dans des plantules. Flg22 a induit l'accumulation de PA par l'activation de PI-PLC couplée a la diacylglycerolkinase 5 (DGK5), et egalement la diminution de niveau de phosphatidylinositol-4,5-biphosphate, qui est un substrat de PI-PLC. L'analyse des effects des inhibiteurs a révélé la participation des DGK et PI-PLC dans la production des espèces d'oxygène réactive (ROS) induite par flg22. La production du PA a été placée dans la cascade de la signalisation en aval de la reconnaissance du flg22 par le complexe de récepteur FLS2-BAK1, mais aprés la formation du ROS par NADPH-oxydase RbohD. Le rôle de DGK5 a été caractérisé dans la regulation du transcriptome; dans l’accumulation du callose induite par flg22 dans l’apoplast et dans la résistance au pathogène biotrophique Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato DC3000. Finalement, nous avons proposé un nouveau modèle de perception du flagellin qui inclut PI-PLC et DGK5.Le rôle de phosphoinositides dans les cascades de la signalisation d’auxin et cytokinin a été révélé dans la morphogenesis racinaire dans le mutant d'Arabidopsis pi4kb1b2 (muté dans deux isoformes de PI4K) et pi4kb1b2sid2 (contient la mutation supplémentaire de l'enzyme de biosynthèse du SA, permettant de séparer les effets du mutation en PI4K qui dependent du SA). Nous avons analysé l'anatomie de la meristem des racines, l'allongement de cellules corticales, la réponse gravitropic, les réponses aux hormones exogènes et nous avons montré la connexion entre l'activité PI4K avec les effets d’auxin et de cytokinin pendant le morphogenesis racinaire et gravitropism. Nos résultats élargissent la connaissance de la nature de la signalisation phytohormonale dans les plantes et peuvent être utilisés comme une base pour augmenter la résistance de céréales agricolement importantes aux contraintes de l’environnement / Thesis is devoted to the investigation of lipid signaling processes as a universal mechanism mediating cellular responses to phytohormones and elicitors thus playing a key role in cell metabolism remodeling during plant adaptation to environmental changes. Phospholipase D (PLD) and its product phosphatidic acid (PA) were found to be involved to the SA-induced signaling cascades in Arabidopsis thaliana guard cells. Using radioactive labeling of phospholipids we found an activation of PLD and production of PA in leaves of 4-week old plants after salicylic acid (SA) treatment. Using histochemical assay, inhibitor assay and transgenic lines knock-out by different isoforms of NADPH-oxidases, we showed the involvement of PLD and NADPH-oxidase RbohD to PA-mediated superoxide formation in Arabidopsis tissues infiltrated by SA and SA-induced stomatal closure. SA- crosstalk with abscisic acid (ABA) in transcriptome remodeling induced by these hormones was investigated in suspension cell culture. Both SA and ABA inhibited basal activity of phosphatidylinositol dependent phospholipase C (PI-PLC) in vivo, while SA (but not ABA) also induced the phosphorylation of phosphatidylinositols. Total transcriptomes of suspension cells after SA or ABA treatment were compared to those obtained from suspension cells treated with U73122 (PI-PLC inhibitor) or wortmannin (inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol-4-kinases (PI4K) that provide the substrate for PI-PLC catalyzed reactions). We found a specific gene clusters, for those the effect of ABA and inhibitors was similar; SA-dependent genes, regulated via the balance of phosphoinositides, and SA-dependent genes, regulated via PLD-mediated pathway. Based on the bioinformatic analysis of the promoters of all selected gene sets, we claim a phosphoinositides level regulation to be an important factor mediating basal cell transcriptome and expression changes induced by SA and ABA.The effect of bacterial peptide flg22 on phospholipid turnover was detected in both suspension cells and seedlings. Flg22 induced accumulation of PA by the activation of PI-PLC coupled with diacylglycerolkinase (DGK) and a corresponding parallel increase of phosphatidylinositol-4,5-biphosphate content, that is a substrate of PI-PLC. Inhibitor analysis revealed the involvement of Ca2+ ions in lipid signaling enzymes reaction to flagellin treatment. We showed the role of DGK and PI-PLC in production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by flg22. PA-production was placed in signaling cascade downstream of flagellin recognition by FLS2-BAK1 receptor complex receptor, but upstream or ROS formation by NADPH-oxidase RbohD. DGK5 was found to be the main source of the detected PA. The role of DGK5 was characterized in basal transcriptome regulation and its flagellin-induced remodeling; in flg22-induced callose accumulation in apoplast and resistance to biotrophic pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato DC3000. We proposed a new model of flagellin perception that includes PI-PLC and DGK5. Role of phosphoinositides in auxin and cytokinin signaling cascades was revealed studying root morphogenesis in Arabidopsis mutant pi4kb1b2 deficient for two PI4K genes, and pi4kb1b2sid2 that had additional mutation it key enzyme of SA biosynthesis, thus allowing us to separate SA-dependent and independent effects of the PI4K deficiency. pi4kb1b2 mutant plants exhibit the dwarf phenotype both in leaf and root parts, while pi4kb1b2sid2 show the normal rosette growth compared to WT, but still shorter roots. We analyzed root meristem anatomy, cortical cells elongation, gravitropic response, responses to exogenic hormones and firstly showed the connection of PI4K activity with auxin and cytokinin effects during root morphogenesis and gravitropism. Our results broaden the knowledge about the nature of plant phytohormonal signaling and can be used as a basis for increasing the resistance of agriculturally important crop plants to environmental stresses