Where we Come from and where to Go: Six Decades of Botanical Studies in the Mediterranean Wetlands, with Sardinia (Italy) as a Case Study

AbstractPlants are key elements of wetlands due to their evolutionary strategies for coping with life in a water-saturated environment, providing the basis for supporting nearly all wetland biota and habitat structure for other taxonomic groups. Sardinia, the second largest island of the Mediterranean Basin, hosts a great variety of wetlands, of which 16 are included in eight Ramsar sites. The 119 hydro- and hygrophilous vascular plant taxa from Sardinia represent the 42.6% and 37.9% of the number estimated for Italy and Europe, respectively. Moreover, around 30% of Sardinia’s bryological flora, which is made up of 498 taxa, is present in temporary ponds. An overview at regional scale considering algae is not available, to our knowledge, even though several specific studies have contributed to their knowledge. In order to find the most investigated research themes and wetland types, identify knowledge gaps and suggest recommendations for further research, we present a first attempt to outline the work that has been hitherto done on plants in lentic habitats in Sardinia. Three plant groups (algae, bryophytes and vascular plants), and five research themes (conservation, ecology, inventory, palaeobotany and taxonomy) were considered. After a literature review, we retained 202 papers published from 1960 to 2019. We found that studies on vascular plants, as plant group, were disproportionately more numerous, and inventories and ecology were the most investigated research themes. Although efforts have recently been made to fill these long-lasting gaps, there is a need for updating the existing information through innovative methods and integrative approaches.

Download Full-text

Effects of anthropogenic disturbance on 13C and 15N of aquatic plants from a semiarid wetland

10.32942/osf.io/f9cwh ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Lilia Serrano-Grijalva ◽

Raul Ochoa-Hueso ◽

Raquel Sánchez-Andrés ◽

Santos Cirujano ◽

Salvador Sánchez-Carrillo

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Aquatic Plants ◽

Vascular Plants ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Anthropogenic Impacts ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Nitrogen And Phosphorus ◽

Isotopic Signatures ◽

La Mancha

Wetlands provide a great variety of environmental services to society, but they are currently globally threatened by human activities. We evaluated the effects of anthropogenic disturbances on the ecological quality of semiarid wetlands from central Spain (La Mancha Húmeda) through the natural abundance of isotopes (13C and 15N) of aquatic plants. We measured water quality and also compiled historical information about land-use and socioeconomic characteristics at local (100 m around the lagoon) and regional (sub-basin) scales. We then related this information to isotopic signatures of three types of aquatic plants: (i) charophytes, (ii) marginal aquatic macrophytes and (iii) vascular plants. Aquatic plants exposed to high levels of nitrogen showed very low δ13C values, consistent with negative physiological effects. Vascular aquatic plants were the group that best reflected the effects of nutrient enrichment in wetlands and lagoons through significant correlations between their δ15N values and total nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in water. Demographic factors did not exert a clear influence on aquatic plant isotopic signatures, although we observed inverse correlations between the coverage of natural vegetation at regional scale and δ13C of marginal plants and δ15N of vascular plants. Furthermore, the isotopic signatures of Phragmites australis, present in 96% of the studied la-goons, were not significantly correlated with any of the environmental quality variables evaluated. Although δ13C signatures of Typha dominguensis and Cladium mariscus increased significantly due to changes in water quality, their narrow isotopic variability at the regional scale limits their use as a bioindicators of environmental changes in this wetland system. Finally, we propose the use of δ15N measured in the vascular plant Salicornia sp. as the most suitable bio-indicator of anthropogenic impacts in La Mancha Húmeda region, a highly emblematic system of semiarid Mediterranean wetlands that is unique in the Mediterranean region of Europe.

Download Full-text

A Common Approach to the Conservation of Threatened Island Vascular Plants: First Results in the Mediterranean Basin

Diversity ◽

10.3390/d12040157 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 157 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Giuseppe Fenu ◽

Gianluigi Bacchetta ◽

Charalambos S. Christodoulou ◽

Donatella Cogoni ◽

Christini Fournaraki ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vascular Plants ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Seed Banks ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Mediterranean Islands ◽

Threatened Plants ◽

Priority List ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

Germination Experiments

The Mediterranean islands represent a center of vascular plant diversity featuring a high rate of endemic richness. Such richness is highly threatened, however, with many plants facing the risk of extinction and in need of urgent protection measures. The CARE-MEDIFLORA project promoted the use of ex situ collections to experiment with in situ active actions for threatened plants. Based on common criteria, a priority list of target plant species was elaborated, and germplasm conservation, curation and storage in seed banks was carried out. Accessions were duplicated in the seed banks of the partners or other institutions. Germination experiments were carried out on a selected group of threatened species. A total of 740 accessions from 429 vascular plants were stored in seed banks, and 410 seed germination experiments for 283 plants species were completed; a total of 63 in situ conservation actions were implemented, adopting different methodological protocols. For each conservation program, a specific monitoring protocol was implemented in collaboration with local and regional authorities. This project represents the first attempt to develop common strategies and an opportunity to join methods and methodologies focused on the conservation of threatened plants in unique natural laboratories such as the Mediterranean islands.

Download Full-text

Plant hydraulic architecture through time: lessons and questions on the evolution of vascular systems

IAWA Journal ◽

10.1163/22941932-40190254 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 40 (3) ◽

pp. 387-420 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Anne-Laure Decombeix ◽

Anaïs Boura ◽

Alexandru M. F. Tomescu

Keyword(s):

Vascular Plants ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Secondary Growth ◽

Single Type ◽

Dominant Type ◽

Vascular Tissues ◽

Regulatory Constraints ◽

Plant Groups ◽

Different Types ◽

Plant Hydraulic Architecture

ABSTRACTStudies of anatomically preserved fossils provide a wealth of information on the evolution of plant vascular systems through time, from the oldest evidence of vascular plants more than 400 million years ago to the rise of the modern angiosperm-dominated flora. In reviewing the key contributions of the fossil record, we discuss knowledge gaps and major outstanding questions about the processes attending the evolution of vascular systems. The appearance and diversification of early vascular plants in the late Silurian-Devonian was accompanied by the evolution of different types of tracheids, which initially improved the hydraulics of conduction but had less of an effect on mechanical support. This was followed in the Devonian and Carboniferous by an increase in complexity of the organization of primary vascular tissues, with different types of steles evolving in response to mechanical, hydraulic, and developmental regulatory constraints. Concurrently, secondary vascular tissues, such as wood, produced by unifacial or bifacial cambia are documented in a wide array of plant groups, including some that do not undergo secondary growth today. While wood production has traditionally been thought to have evolved independently in different lineages, accumulating evidence suggests that this taxonomic breadth reflects mosaic deployment of basic developmental mechanisms, some of which are derived by common ancestry. For most of vascular plant history, wood contained a single type of conducting element: tracheids (homoxyly). However, quantitative (e.g. diameter and length) and qualitative (e.g. pitting type) diversity of these tracheids allowed various taxa to cover a broad range of hydraulic properties. A second type of conducting elements, vessels, is first documented in an extinct late Permian (c. 260 Ma) group. While the putative hydraulic advantages of vessels are still debated, wood characterized by presence of vessels (heteroxyly) would become the dominant type, following the diversification of angiosperms during the Cretaceous.

Download Full-text

Metarbarcoding reveals distribution patterns of DNA in surface sediments of a large lake

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-15265 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yi Wang ◽

Lisa Gutbrod ◽

Myriam Schmid ◽

Laura Epp

Keyword(s):

Vascular Plants ◽

Surface Sediments ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Distribution Patterns ◽

Strongly Correlated ◽

Sampling Locations ◽

Biodiversity Change ◽

Taxonomic Groups ◽

Source Of Information ◽

Geographical Locations

<p>Lake sedimentary ancient DNA has become a recognized source of information on past biodiversity change, but our understanding of its distribution and taphonomy is still limited. Here we collected 40 surface sediment samples from Lake Constance in southern Germany and characterized sedimentary DNA (sedDNA) heterogeneity through four metabarcoding PCRs on general eukaryotes, vascular plants, cyanobacteria and copepods.&#160; We observed the variability of overall sedDNA being strongly correlated with sediment sample geographical locations, although this pattern varies within taxonomic groups. Specifically, geographical coordination and water depth explain 10.7% variability of terrestrial vascular plant sedDNA distribution, but the distribution of copepods is patchy and not correlated with sampling locations. Out study indicates that sedDNA is not distributed uniformly across the lake but rather linked to the movement of lake water and the local presence of the organisms.</p>

Download Full-text

The quantification of plant biodiversity through time

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.1994.0084 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 345 (1311) ◽

pp. 35-44 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Keyword(s):

Vascular Plants ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Morphological Diversity ◽

Data Sets ◽

Geological Time ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Taxonomic Level ◽

Plant Groups ◽

Independent Observations ◽

Early Radiation

Existing quantitative summaries of the taxonomic diversification of vascular plants are not in numerical agreement, although they permit similar broad evolutionary interpretations of the history of land plants. We examine three aspects of the collection and analysis of such data which demonstrate that quantitative studies are still in their infancy. Comparisons among diversification patterns reflected in two data sets reveal that comparatively minor taxonomic and stratigraphic revisions result in statistically significant quantitative changes as well as qualitative differences in the patterns of diversity change over geological time. Two mathematical models based on three data sets are used to estimate the ‘unsampled’ diversity of fossil plant species. These techniques indicate that considerably more data need to be collected before disparities among vascular plant diversification patterns obtained by different authors can be brought to closure. The question of what constitutes the smallest sampling unit of morphological diversity (i.e. the taxonomic level that yields statistically independent observations) remains unresolved for vascular plants. Nested analysis of the percent distribution of variance for three plant morphological variables (height, tracheid diameter, and xylem cross-sectional area) indicate that the taxonomic level at which major evolutionary innovations become apparent has shifted from the species—genus level to higher taxonomic levels during the early radiation of pteridophytes. Such shifts may have occurred during the taxonomic radiation of other broadly defined plant groups (gymnosperms and angiosperms), and thus may have altered the taxonomic level on which selection pressures have operated. This may influence our interpretation of the mechanisms of diversity response to environmental variation.

Download Full-text

Different temporal trends in vascular plant and bryophyte communities along elevational gradients over four decades of warming

10.22541/au.163252668.83390904/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Antoine Becker Scarpitta ◽

Diane Auberson Lavoie ◽

Raphael Aussenac ◽

Mark Vellend

Keyword(s):

Plant Communities ◽

Vascular Plants ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Elevation Gradient ◽

Temporal Trends ◽

Species Distributions ◽

Warming Trend ◽

Local Diversity ◽

Taxonomic Groups

Despite many studies showing biodiversity responses to warming, the generality of such responses across taxonomic groups remains unclear. Very few studies have tested for evidence of bryophyte community responses to warming, even though bryophytes are major contributors to diversity and functioning in many ecosystems. Here we report an empirical study comparing long-term change of bryophyte and vascular plant communities in two sites with contrasting long-term warming trends, using “legacy” botanical records as a baseline for comparison with contemporary resurveys. We hypothesized that ecological changes would be greater in sites with a stronger warming trend, and that vascular plant communities, with narrower climatic niches, would be more sensitive than bryophyte communities to climate warming. For each taxonomic group in each site, we quantified the magnitude of changes in species’ distributions along the elevation gradient, species richness, and community composition. We found contrasted temporal changes in bryophyte vs. vascular plant communities, which only partially supported the warming hypothesis. In the area with a stronger warming trend, we found a significant increase of local diversity and beta-diversity for vascular plants, but not for bryophytes. Presence absence data did not provide sufficient power to detect elevational shifts in species distributions. The patterns observed for bryophytes are in accordance with recent literature showing that local diversity can remain unchanged despite strong changes in composition. Regardless of whether one taxon is systematically more or less sensitive to environmental change than another, our results suggest that vascular plants cannot be used as a surrogate for bryophytes in terms of predicting the nature and magnitude of responses to warming. Thus, to assess overall biodiversity responses to global change, abundance data from different taxonomic groups and different community properties need to be synthesized.

Download Full-text

Differentiation of new coenomorph in context of the Belgard’s ecomorph system development

Ecology and Noospherology ◽

10.15421/031703 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 28 (1-2) ◽

pp. 28-35 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

B. A. Baranovski

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Plant Species ◽

Vascular Plants ◽

Deciduous Forest ◽

System Development ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Tabular Form ◽

Ecological Scales ◽

The One ◽

Different Levels

Nowadays, bioecological characteristics of species are the basis for flora and vegetation studying on the different levels. Bioecological characteristics of species is required in process of flora studying on the different levels such as biotopes or phytocenoses, floras of particular areas (floras of ecologically homogeneous habitats), and floras of certain territories. Ramensky scale is the one of first detailed ecological scales on plant species ordination in relation to various environmental factors; it developed in 1938 (Ramensky, 1971). A little later (1941), Pogrebnyak’s scale of forest stands was proposed. Ellenberg’s system developed in 1950 (Ellenberg, 1979) and Tsyganov’s system (Tsyganov, 1975) are best known as the systems of ecological scales on vascular plant species; these systems represent of habitat detection by ecotopic ecomorphs of plant species (phytoindication). Basically, the system proposed by Alexander Lyutsianovich Belgard was the one of first system of plant species that identiified ectomorphs in relation to environmental factors. As early as 1950, Belgard developed the tabulated system of ecomorphs using the Latin ecomorphs abbreviation; he also used the terminology proposed in the late 19th century by Dekandol (1956) and Warming (1903), as well as terminology of other authors. The article analyzes the features of Belgard’s system of ecomorphs on vascular plants. It has certain significance and advantages over other systems of ecomorphs. The use of abbreviated Latin names of ecomorphs in tabular form enables the use shortened form of ones. In the working scheme of Belgard’s system of ecomorphs relation of species to environmental factors are represented in the abbreviated Latin alphabetic version (Belgard, 1950). Combined into table, the ecomorphic analysis of plant species within association (ecological certification of species), biotope or area site (water area) gives an explicit pattern on ecological structure of flora within surveyed community, biotope or landscape, and on environmental conditions. Development and application by Belgrard the cenomorphs as «species’ adaptation to phytocenosis as a whole» were completely new in the development of systems of ecomorphs and, in this connection, different coenomorphs were distinguished. Like any concept, the system of ecomorphs by Belgard has the possibility and necessity to be developed and added. Long-time researches and analysis of literature sources allow to propose a new coenomorph in the context of Belgard’s system of ecomorphs development: silvomargoant (species of forest margin, from the Latin words margo – edge, boundary (Dvoretsky, 1976), margo – margin, ad margins silvarum – along the deciduous forest margins). As an example of ecomorphic characterization of species according to the system of ecomorphs by Belgard (when the abbreviated Latin ecomorph names are used in tabular form and the proposed cenomorph is used), it was given the part of the table on vascular plants ecomorphs in the National Nature Park «Orelsky» (Baranovsky et al). The Belgard’s system of ecomorphs is particularly convenient and can be successfully applied to data processing in the ecological analysis of the flora on wide areas with significant species richness, and the proposed ecomorph will be another necessary element in the Belgard’s system of ecomorphs.

Download Full-text

In memory of Vera Antonovna Martynenko (1936-2018)

Vegetation of Russia ◽

10.31111/vegrus/2018.32.149 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 149-154

Keyword(s):

Vascular Plants ◽

Ussr Academy ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Plant Cover ◽

Komi Republic ◽

Great Contribution ◽

North East ◽

The North ◽

Natural Flora

Vera Antonovna Martynenko (17.02.1936–06.01.2018) — famous specialist in the field of studying vascular plant flora and vegetation of the Far North, the Honored worker of the Komi Republic (2006), The Komi Republic State Scientific Award winner (2000). She was born in the town Likhoslavl of the Kalinin (Tver) region. In 1959, Vera Antonovna graduated from the faculty of soil and biology of the Leningrad State University and then moved to the Komi Branch of USSR Academy of Science (Syktyvkar). From 1969 to 1973 she passed correspondence postgraduate courses of the Komi Branch of USSR Academy of Science. In 1974, she received the degree of candidate of biology (PhD) by the theme «Comparative analysis of the boreal flora at the Northeast European USSR» in the Botanical Institute (St. Petersburg). In 1996, Vera Antonovna received the degree of doctor of biology in the Institute of plant and animal ecology (Ekaterinburg) «Flora of the northern and mid subzones of the taiga of the European North-East». The study and conservation of species and coenotical diversity of the plant world, namely the vascular plants flora of the Komi Republic and revealing its transformation under the anthropogenic influence, was in the field of V. A. Martynenko’ scientific interests. She made great contribution to the study of the Komi Republic meadow flora and the pool of medicinal plants. She performed inventorying and mapping the meadows of several agricultural enterprises of the Republic, revealed the species composition and places for harvesting medicinal plants and studied their productivity in the natural flora of the boreal zone. The results of her long-term studies were used for making the NPA system and the Red Book of the Komi Republic (1998 and 2009). Vera Antonovna participated in the research of the influence of placer gold mining and oil development on the natural ecosystems of the North, and developed the method of long-term monitoring of plant cover. Results of these works are of high practical value. V. A. Martynenko is an author and coauthor of more than 130 scientific publications. The most important jnes are «Flora of Northeast European USSR» (1974, 1976, and 1977), «Floristic composition of fodder lands of the Northeast Europe» (1989), «The forests of the Komi Republic» (1999), «Forestry of forest resources of the Komi Republic» (2000), «The list of flora of the Yugyd va national park» (2003), «The guide for vascular plants of the Syktyvkar and its vicinities» (2005), «Vascular plants of the Komi Republic» (2008), and «Resources of the natural flora of the Komi Republic» (2014). She also was an author of «Encyclopedia of the Komi Republic» (1997, 1999, and 2000), «Historical and cultural atlas of the Komi Republic» (1997), «Atlas of the Komi Republic» (2001, 2011). V. A. Martynenko made a great contribution to the development of the botanical investigations in the North. Since 1982, during more than 10 years, she was the head of the Department of the Institute of Biology. Three Ph. D. theses have been completed under her leadership. Many years, she worked actively in the Dissertation Council of the Institute of biology Komi Scientific Centre UrB RAS. The death of Vera Antonovna Martynenko is a heavy and irretrievable loss for the staff of the Institute of Biology. The memory of Vera Antonovna will live in her numerous scientific works, the hearts of students and colleagues.

Download Full-text

Additions and clarifications to the flora of “Castel” nature reserve (the Southern Coast of the Crimea)

Plant Biology and Horticulture: theory, innovation ◽

10.36305/2019-3-152-112-127 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 112-127

Author(s):

L. E. Ryff

Keyword(s):

Vascular Plants ◽

Nature Reserve ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Field Research ◽

Southern Coast ◽

Crimean Peninsula ◽

Annotated List ◽

The Crimea ◽

Protected Natural Area ◽

Biological Flora

The aim of the work is to supplement and clarify the annotated list of vascular plants of “Castel” nature reserve on the Southern coast of the Crimea. Methods. The work is based on the results of long standing field research, which was carried out by the traditional route-reconnaissance method, analysis of YALT herbarium materials and data from literary and Internet sources. Arealogical and biomorphological characteristics of species are given according to "Biological Flora of the Crimea" by V.N. Golubev, biotope coding according to EUNIS habitat classification. The nomenclature of taxa corresponds to the " Spontaneuos flora of the Crimean peninsula" by A.V. Yena and to international databases Euro+Med PlantBase, The Plant List, Catalog of Life. Results. An additional annotated list of vascular plants of “Castel” nature reserve has been compiled, including 152 species, subspecies and cultivars from 97 genera of 38 families, of which 53 genera and 11 families have also not been cited for this territory before. Arealogical, biomorphological, biotopic and sozological characteristics of the taxa are given. As a result of a critical analysis of the list previously published by E.S. Krainyuk, four species were redefined, two species were proposed to be excluded from the flora of the specially protected natural area, several taxa are considered doubtful. Conclusions. The list of vascular plant taxa in “Castel” nature reserve has been supplemented with 11 families, 53 genera, and 152 species, subspecies, and cultivars; several species from the previously compiled list have been proposed to be excluded or considered doubtful. Thus, the flora of the protected area includes at least 425 species from 68 families. For the first time, the biotopic characteristic of the flora of the reserve was established.

Download Full-text

Carbon for nutrient exchange between Lycopodiella inundata and Mucoromycotina fine root endophytes is unresponsive to high atmospheric CO2

Mycorrhiza ◽

10.1007/s00572-021-01033-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Grace A. Hoysted ◽

Jill Kowal ◽

Silvia Pressel ◽

Jeffrey G. Duckett ◽

Martin I. Bidartondo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vascular Plants ◽

Fine Root ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽

Root Endophyte ◽

Isotope Tracers ◽

The Past ◽

Fungal Associates ◽

Endophyte Fungi

AbstractNon-vascular plants associating with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AMF) and Mucoromycotina ‘fine root endophyte’ (MFRE) fungi derive greater benefits from their fungal associates under higher atmospheric [CO2] (a[CO2]) than ambient; however, nothing is known about how changes in a[CO2] affect MFRE function in vascular plants. We measured movement of phosphorus (P), nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) between the lycophyte Lycopodiella inundata and Mucoromycotina fine root endophyte fungi using 33P-orthophosphate, 15 N-ammonium chloride and 14CO2 isotope tracers under ambient and elevated a[CO2] concentrations of 440 and 800 ppm, respectively. Transfers of 33P and 15 N from MFRE to plants were unaffected by changes in a[CO2]. There was a slight increase in C transfer from plants to MFRE under elevated a[CO2]. Our results demonstrate that the exchange of C-for-nutrients between a vascular plant and Mucoromycotina FRE is largely unaffected by changes in a[CO2]. Unravelling the role of MFRE in host plant nutrition and potential C-for-N trade changes between symbionts under different abiotic conditions is imperative to further our understanding of the past, present and future roles of plant-fungal symbioses in ecosystems.

Download Full-text