A rose is not always a rose – coping with changing conditions in the annual plant the True Rose of Jericho (Anastatica hierochuntica)

Population success is an elusive term that integrates assumptions regarding individual’s capacity to promptly respond to local conditions with assumptions regarding the outcome of these responses on the characteristics of the population these individuals create. Population success is even more complicated in face of climate change where conditions are constantly changing. Desert plants provide a useful model to study such responses, because they need to naturally cope with conditions similar to those anticipated by climate change, including water shortage and high temperatures, as well as strong and unpredictable fluctuations in the local conditions. The True Rose of Jericho, Anastatica hierochuntica (Brassicaceae), is an annual plant that has a large geographical distribution throughout the deserts of the old world. It is also well known for its aerial seed bank, with seeds remaining on the skeleton of mother plant for many years and dispersing only during rainfall events. The wide distribution and clear adaptation to deserts make A. hierochuntica a convenient model plant to study potential strategies that allow plants to adapt to harsh and fluctuating conditions. Using field observations and controlled experiments I show that population success mainly depends on fast response of plants to the immediate conditions they experience. Based on these results, I demonstrate that in a changing and harsher conditions, as those governing our world today, organisms’ ability to succeed is crucially dependent on their capacity to maintain flexible and variable responses.