Plasticity of the correlations between general and specialized plant metabolism

On the base of analysis of more than 3,500 values of the correlation coefficients between morphophysiological parameters of 7 species of cultivated and wild plants it was showed that plants do not form stable correlation complexes. Signs (+ or -) and a large value of the coefficient of correlation between morphophysiological parameters are retained only a limited list of correlations. Significant correlations between morphophysiological parameters, typically constitute no more than 40 % of the total possible amount. Ratio of realized correlations of their potential amount in different species depends on habitat environment optimality. At the same time, individual plant species may both increase and decrease in the proportion of realized correlations, in response to the deterioration of living conditions. The plasticity of the correlations between morphophysiological parameters was observed in plants both in the laboratory conditions and in natural habitats. It was shown that the change in the share of realized correlations can occur as response to changes in the large list of different environmental factors – from the total amount of available mineral nutrition elements to complicated environmental ecological differences between natural habitats. In addition, the observed pattern of correlation plasticity of the events was shown both for basic and specialized plant metabolic events. The obtained data are interpreted as a typical plant manifestation of the principle of independence of the formation of individual adaptive mechanisms and neutral responses to changing environmental conditions and the operation in the plants the decentralized control schemes of morphophysiological parameters.