Climate Change, Succession, and Reproductive Success of a Praying Mantid

2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-206
Author(s):  
Lawrence E Hurd ◽  
Katherine X Cheng ◽  
Jeremy Abcug ◽  
Lydia V Calhoun ◽  
Madeleine E Geno ◽  
...  

Abstract We examined the adult phase of the Chinese praying mantid, Tenodera aridifolia sinensis (Saussure) (Mantodea: Mantidae) at the end of five growing seasons spanning two decades (1999–2018) in a successional old field. Sex ratio, which is generally male-biased by the time all members of a cohort are adults, exhibited a steady decline in proportion of males and eventual reversal by 2016, even though the calendar time of the study did not vary among years. Increasing length and warmth of the growing season resulted in earlier maturation, so we were seeing later portions of the adult phase at the same calendar time over successive years. This result is consistent with the earlier-published hypothesis that global warming can reduce fitness by warming and extending the growing season: earlier maturation results in earlier oviposition, which in turn causes eggs to hatch before onset of winter, thereby dying before egg diapause can occur. This may push the latitudinal distribution of this, and of other univoltine semelparous insects, farther north as the climate continues to warm. Reproductive output for the population, measured as total number of eggs produced by a cohort, peaked in 2004 at 8,514 and then fell to 226 by 2018, as did estimated numbers of adults. This decline was probably due to shrinkage of the open field area where prey were more abundant, by more than 2/3 as cedar trees replaced herbaceous vegetation during plant secondary succession. This is consistent with the hypothesis that succession limits the residence time in a habitat for these mantids.

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 943
Author(s):  
Katri Nissinen ◽  
Virpi Virjamo ◽  
Antti Kilpeläinen ◽  
Veli-Pekka Ikonen ◽  
Laura Pikkarainen ◽  
...  

We studied the growth responses of boreal Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) and silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) seedlings to simulated climate warming of an average of 1.3 °C over the growing season in a controlled field experiment in central Finland. We had six replicate plots for elevated and ambient temperature for each tree species. The warming treatment lasted for the conifers for three growing seasons and for the birch two growing seasons. We measured the height and diameter growth of all the seedlings weekly during the growing season. The shoot and root biomass and their ratios were measured annually in one-third of seedlings harvested from each plot in autumn. After two growing seasons, the height, diameter and shoot biomass were 45%, 19% and 41% larger in silver birch seedlings under the warming treatment, but the root biomass was clearly less affected. After three growing seasons, the height, diameter, shoot and root biomass were under a warming treatment 39, 47, 189 and 113% greater in Scots pine, but the root:shoot ratio 29% lower, respectively. The corresponding responses of Norway spruce to warming were clearly smaller (e.g., shoot biomass 46% higher under a warming treatment). As a comparison, the relative response of height growth in silver birch was after two growing seasons equal to that measured in Scots pine after three growing seasons. Based on our findings, especially silver birch seedlings, but also Scots pine seedlings benefitted from warming, which should be taken into account in forest regeneration in the future.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Jodie A. Crose ◽  
Misha R. Manuchehri ◽  
Todd A. Baughman

Abstract Three herbicide premixes have recently been introduced for weed control in wheat. These include: halauxifen + florasulam, thifensulfuron + fluroxypyr, and bromoxynil + bicyclopyrone. The objective of this study was to evaluate these herbicides along with older products for their control of smallseed falseflax in winter wheat in Oklahoma. Studies took place during the 2017, 2018, and 2020 winter wheat growing seasons. Weed control was visually estimated every two weeks throughout the growing season and wheat yield was collected in all three years. Smallseed falseflax size was approximately six cm in diameter at time of application in all years. Control ranged from 96 to 99% following all treatments with the exception of bicyclopyrone + bromoxynil and dicamba alone, which controlled falseflax 90%. All treatments containing an acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicide achieved adequate control; therefore, resistance is not suspected in this population. Halauxifen + florasulam and thifensulfuron + fluroxypyr effectively controlled smallseed falseflax similarly to other standards recommended for broadleaf weed control in wheat in Oklahoma. Rotational use of these products allows producers flexibility in controlling smallseed falseflax and reduces the potential for development of herbicide resistance in this species.


Weed Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Muhammad Javaid Akhter ◽  
Per Kudsk ◽  
Solvejg Kopp Mathiassen ◽  
Bo Melander

Abstract Field experiments were conducted in the growing seasons of 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019 to evaluate the competitive effects of rattail fescue [Vulpia myuros (L.) C.C. Gmel.] in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and to assess whether delayed crop sowing and increased crop density influence the emergence, competitiveness, and fecundity of V. myuros. Cumulative emergence showed the potential of V. myuros to emerge rapidly and under a wide range of climatic conditions with no effect of crop density and variable effects of sowing time between the two experiments. Grain yield and yield components were negatively affected by increasing V. myuros density. The relationship between grain yield and V. myuros density was not influenced by sowing time or by crop density, but crop–weed competition was strongly influenced by growing conditions. Due to very different weather conditions, grain yield reductions were lower in the growing season of 2017 to 2018 than in 2018 to 2019, with maximum grain yield losses of 22% and 50% in the two growing seasons, respectively. The yield components, number of crop ears per square meter, and 1,000-kernel weight were affected almost equally, reflecting that V. myuros’s competition with winter wheat occurred both early and late in the growing season. Seed production of V. myuros was suppressed by delaying sowing and increasing crop density. The impacts of delayed sowing and increasing crop density on seed production of V. myuros highlight the potential of these cultural weed control tactics in the long-term management programs of this species.


1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 954-959 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.J. Samuelson ◽  
J.R. Seiler

The interactive influences of ambient (374 μL•L−1) or elevated (713 μL•L−1) CO2, low or high soil fertility, well-watered or water-stressed treatment, and rooting volume on gas exchange and growth were examined in red spruce (Picearubens Sarg.) grown from seed through two growing seasons. Leaf gas exchange throughout two growing seasons and growth after two growing seasons in response to elevated CO2 were independent of soil fertility and water-stress treatments, and rooting volume. During the first growing season, no reduction in leaf photosynthesis of seedlings grown in elevated CO2 compared with seedlings grown in ambient CO2 was observed when measured at the same CO2 concentration. During the second growing season, net photosynthesis was up to 21% lower for elevated CO2-grown seedlings than for ambient CO2-grown seedlings when measured at 358 μL•L−1. Thus, photosynthetic acclimation to growth in elevated CO2 occurred gradually and was not a function of root-sink strength or soil-fertility treatment. However, net photosynthesis of seedlings grown and measured at an elevated CO2 concentration was still over 2 times greater than the photosynthesis of seedlings grown and measured at an ambient CO2 concentration. Growth enhancement by CO2 was maintained, since seedlings grown in elevated CO2 were 40% larger in both size and weight after two growing seasons.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 990
Author(s):  
Javier Pérez-Hernández ◽  
Rosario G. Gavilán

The study of ecological succession to determine how plant communities re-assemble after a natural or anthropogenic disturbance has always been an important topic in ecology. The understanding of these processes forms part of the new theories of community assembly and species coexistence, and is attracting attention in a context of expanding human impacts. Specifically, new successional studies provide answers to different mechanisms of community assemblage, and aim to define the importance of deterministic or stochastic processes in the succession dynamic. Biotic limits, which depend directly on biodiversity (i.e., species competition), and abiotic filtering, which depends on the environment, become particularly important when they are exceeded, making the succession process more complicated to reach the previous disturbance stage. Plant functional traits (PFTs) are used in secondary succession studies to establish differences between abandonment stages or to compare types of vegetation or flora, and are more closely related to the functioning of plant communities. Dispersal limitation is a PFT considered an important process from a stochastic point of view because it is related to the establishing of plants. Related to it the soil seed bank plays an important role in secondary succession because it is essential for ecosystem functioning. Soil compounds and microbial community are important variables to take into account when studying any succession stage. Chronosequence is the best way to study the whole process at different time scales. Finally, our objective in this review is to show how past studies and new insights are being incorporated into the basis of classic succession. To further explore this subject we have chosen old-field recovery as an example of how a number of different plant communities, including annual and perennial grasslands and shrublands, play an important role in secondary succession.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Sara Bernardo ◽  
Lia-Tânia Dinis ◽  
Nelson Machado ◽  
Ana Barros ◽  
Marta Pitarch-Bielsa ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: Kaolin particle-film application is a well-known strategy to avoid fruit damage. However, its putative role in balancing berry ripening under a changing climate remains poorly explored. OBJECTIVE: We assessed kaolin treatment effect on several ripening berry components, hormonal balance and oenological parameters of the field-grown Touriga-Franca (TF) and Touriga–Nacional (TN) grapevine varieties at veraison (EL35) and ripening (EL38) during two growing seasons (2017 and 2018). RESULTS: Under the adverse summer conditions (two heatwave events) of 2017, kaolin application increased 211.2 %and 51.4 %the salicylic acid (SA) and abscisic acid (ABA) levels in TF berries at EL38, while no significant differences were observed in TN. Conversely, TF, and TN kaolin treated berries showed lower SA and ABA accumulation in 2018, respectively. Tartaric acid content increased about 17.2 %, and 24.2 %in TF and TN treated berries at stage EL35 in the 2017 growing season. Though kaolin treatment had no consistent effect on anthocyanins accumulation, flavonoids, ortho-diphenols and tannins increased in kaolin treated grapevines in 2017. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the key role of climate in triggering ripening related processes and fruit quality potential. Nevertheless, kaolin treated grapevines displayed an improved response to oxidative stress signals by increasing secondary metabolites accumulation in warm vintages. Kaolin application promoted different varietal responses, with a possible ripening delaying effect in TF, reinforcing its efficiency in alleviating severe summer stress impacts.


Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1726
Author(s):  
Nasr H. Gomaa ◽  
Ahmad K. Hegazy ◽  
Arafat Abdel Hamed Abdel Latef

Perennial shrub-annual plant interactions play key roles in desert regions influencing the structure and dynamics of plant communities there. In the present study, carried out in northwestern Saudi Arabia, we examined the effect of Haloxylon salicornicum shrubs on their associated understory annual species across four consecutive growing seasons, along with a record of the seasonal rainfall patterns. We measured density and species richness of all the annual species in permanent quadrats located beneath individual shrubs, as well as in the spaces between shrubs. During wet growing season H. salicornicum shrubs significantly enhanced the density and species richness of sub-canopy species, whereas in the relatively dry seasons they exerted negative effects on the associated species. In all growing seasons, the presence of shrubs was associated with enhanced soil properties, including increased organic carbon content, silt + clay, and levels of nutrients (N, P and K). Shrubs improved soil moisture content beneath their canopies in the wet growing season, while in the dry seasons they had negative effects on water availability. Differences in effects of H. salicornicum on understory plants between growing seasons seem due to the temporal changes in the impact of shrubs on water availability. Our results suggest the facilitative effects of shrubs on sub-canopy annuals in arid ecosystems may switch to negative effects with increasing drought stress. We discuss the study in light of recent refinements of the well-known “stress-gradient hypothesis”.


1996 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 555
Author(s):  
ID Black ◽  
CB Dyson ◽  
AR Fischle

In 11 experiments over 6 seasons the herbicide sethoxydim was applied to Machete, Spear and Blade wheat cultivars in the absence or near absence of weeds (10 sites) or where the weeds were controlled by selective herbicides (1 site), in the cropping area north of Adelaide, South Australia. The rates applied included 9-47 g a.i./ha at the 2-3 leaf growth stage and 9-74 g a.i./ha at early tillering. Except for the very long growing season of 1992, there was a highly significant positive linear correlation between the number of degree days in the growing season at each experimental site and relative mean yield increase of these sethoxydim treatments. Yield increases ranged from nil in growing seasons of about 1000 degree days to 32% in a growing season of 1480 degree days, with a median of 8% over the experiments.


1972 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. C. IVARSON ◽  
A. R. MACK

Studies were made on the root-surface fungi of soybean grown in field plots where various soil temperature and moisture environments had been maintained for five previous growing seasons. Washed-root segments were incubated on agar plates at temperatures corresponding to those of the field plots. Fusarium was the most abundant genus appearing on the plates. Species of Mucor, Trichoderma, Alternaria, Mortierella, Aspergillus, Corynespora, Rhizoctonia, Penicillium, Gliocladium, and sterile forms appeared fairly frequently. Statistical analysis of the data revealed that changes in soil and incubation temperature markedly affected the relative frequency of 12 genera, and age of plant significantly affected nine genera. Soil moisture influenced the frequency of only one genus. High soil and incubation temperature (28 C) encouraged greater root populations of Rhizoctonia early in the season, Trichoderma and Aspergillus throughout the growing season, and Fusarium late in the season. Low soil temperature conditions (12 C) favored growth of Pythium, Mortierella, Mucor, Alternaria, Cladosporium, throughout the growing season, and Corynespora and Cylindrocarpon, primarily during mid-season. Late in the season Gliocladium preferred the intermediate temperature of 20 C.


1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 2286-2299 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.A. Lautenschlager

Reviewed studies of the effects of forest herbicide applications on wildlife often lacked replication, pretreatment information, and (or) were conducted for only one or two growing seasons after treatment. Because of these problems, as well as the use of dissimilar sampling techniques, study conclusions have sometimes been contradictory. A review of eight studies of the effects of herbicide treatments on northern songbird populations in regenerating clearcuts indicates that total songbird populations are seldom reduced during the growing season after treatment. Densities of species that use early successional brushy, deciduous cover are sometimes reduced, while densities of species which commonly use more open areas, sometimes increase. A review of 14 studies of the effects of herbicide treatments on small mammals indicates that like songbirds, small mammal responses are species specific. Some species are unaffected, while some select and others avoid herbicide-treated areas. Only studies that use kill or removal trapping to study small mammal responses show density reductions associated with herbicide treatment. It seems that some small mammal species may be reluctant to venture into disturbed areas, although residents in those areas are apparently not affected by the disturbance. Fourteen relevant studies examined the effects of conifer release treatments on moose and deer foods and habitat use. Conifer release treatments reduce the availability of moose browse for as long as four growing seasons after treatment. The degree of reduction during the growing season after treatment varies with the herbicide and rate used. Deer use of treated areas remains unchanged or increases during the first growing season after treatment. Eight years after treating a naturally regenerated spruce–fir stand browse was three to seven times more abundant on treated than on control plots (depending on the chemical and rate used). Forage quality (nitrogen, ash, and moisture) of crop trees increased one growing season after the soil-active herbicide simazine was applied to control competition around outplanted 3-year-old balsam fir seedlings.


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