scholarly journals Interactions during growth eclipse interactions during flowering for determining plant fecundity in pollinator-sharing annual plants

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aubrie R. M. James ◽  
Monica A Geber
Keyword(s):  
Vegetative Growth ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Plant Ecology ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Priority Effect ◽  
Whole Plant ◽  
Experimental Interaction ◽  
Plant Fecundity ◽  
Modes Of Interaction

Species interactions are foundational to ecological theory, but studies often reduce the complex nature of species interactions. In plant ecology, the result is that interactions during vegetative growth and flowering are considered separately, though both can affect fecundity. Here we use a system of annual flowering plants in the genus Clarkia to ask how interactions during flowering and growth contribute to plant interactions, and if pollinator behaviors explain apparent patterns in plant interactions during flowering. We measure seed success and fecundity of Clarkia focal plants in experimental interaction plots with the effect of pollinators experimentally removed or retained. We also observe pollinator behaviors in the plots and experimental arrays. During flowering, pollinators significantly changed the effect of Clarkia interactions on seed success in 31% of species interactions, and these changes corresponded to pollinator behaviors. Whole-plant fecundity, however, did not depend on interactions between Clarkia; instead, non-Clarkia forbs that grew earlier in the season limited fecundity, constituting a priority effect during vegetative growth. Our study shows that interactions during vegetative growth can preclude the effect of pollinator-mediated interactions on fecundity by limiting potential reproductive output, and that simultaneously studying different modes of interaction allows for understanding the contingency of ecological outcomes.

scholarly journals Species interactions involving cushion plants in high-elevation environments under a changing climate

Ecosistemas ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 2186
Author(s):  
Francisco I. Pugnaire ◽  
Gianalberto Losapio ◽  
Christian Schöb
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Plant Ecology ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Cushion Plant ◽  
Cushion Plants ◽  
Negative Impacts

The effects of global warming are stronger in high-elevation environments than elsewhere. Here, we review recent advances in alpine plant ecology with a focus on dry mountain ranges, mainly in Mediterranean-type climate, with a global change perspective. Raising temperatures and changes in precipitation influence both plant growth and reproduction, and therefore the spatial distribution of species. Research in high-elevation systems evidenced that plant–plant interactions involving cushion plants play a crucial role in the assembly of plant communities, influencing species richness, genetic and phylogenetic diversity, and species persistence. By buffering environmental extremes and ameliorating biophysical conditions, cushion plant species acting as ecosystem engineers are fundamental in the response of alpine ecosystems to global warming, mitigating negative impacts on different plant species with narrow niche and small distribution range.

scholarly journals Trait-based modelling in ecology: lessons from two decades of research

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liubov Zakharova ◽  
Katrin M Meyer ◽  
Merav Seifan
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Plant Ecology ◽  
Ecological Modelling ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Complex Species ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Current Usage ◽  
The Individual

Trait-based approaches are an alternative to species-based approaches for functionally linking individual organisms with community structure and dynamics. In the trait‑based approach, the focus is on the traits, the physiological, morphological, or life-history characteristics, of organisms rather than their species. Although used in ecological research for several decades, this approach only emerged in ecological modelling about twenty years ago. We review this rise of trait-based models and trace the occasional transfer of trait-based modelling concepts between terrestrial plant ecology, animal and microbial ecology, and aquatic ecology. Trait-based models have a variety of purposes, such as predicting changes in species distribution patterns under climate and land-use change, planning and assessing conservation management, or studying invasion processes. In modelling, trait-based approaches can reduce technical challenges such as computational limitations, scaling problems, and data scarcity. However, we note inconsistencies in the current usage of terms in trait-based approaches and these inconsistencies must be resolved if trait-based concepts are to be easily exchanged between disciplines. Specifically, future trait-based models may further benefit from incorporating intraspecific trait variability and addressing more complex species interactions. We also recommend expanding the combination of trait-based approaches with individual-based modelling to simplify the parameterization of models, to capture plant-plant interactions at the individual level, and to explain community dynamics under global change.

scholarly journals Trait-based modelling in ecology: lessons from two decades of research

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liubov Zakharova ◽  
Katrin M Meyer ◽  
Merav Seifan
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Plant Ecology ◽  
Ecological Modelling ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Complex Species ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Current Usage ◽  
The Individual

Trait-based approaches are an alternative to species-based approaches for functionally linking individual organisms with community structure and dynamics. In the trait‑based approach, the focus is on the traits, the physiological, morphological, or life-history characteristics, of organisms rather than their species. Although used in ecological research for several decades, this approach only emerged in ecological modelling about twenty years ago. We review this rise of trait-based models and trace the occasional transfer of trait-based modelling concepts between terrestrial plant ecology, animal and microbial ecology, and aquatic ecology. Trait-based models have a variety of purposes, such as predicting changes in species distribution patterns under climate and land-use change, planning and assessing conservation management, or studying invasion processes. In modelling, trait-based approaches can reduce technical challenges such as computational limitations, scaling problems, and data scarcity. However, we note inconsistencies in the current usage of terms in trait-based approaches and these inconsistencies must be resolved if trait-based concepts are to be easily exchanged between disciplines. Specifically, future trait-based models may further benefit from incorporating intraspecific trait variability and addressing more complex species interactions. We also recommend expanding the combination of trait-based approaches with individual-based modelling to simplify the parameterization of models, to capture plant-plant interactions at the individual level, and to explain community dynamics under global change.

scholarly journals Biotic rescaling reveals importance of species interactions for variation in biodiversity responses to climate change

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (37) ◽  
pp. 22858-22865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vigdis Vandvik ◽  
Olav Skarpaas ◽  
Kari Klanderud ◽  
Richard J. Telford ◽  
Aud H. Halbritter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Climate Gradients ◽  
Climate Change Responses ◽  
Local Extinctions ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Underlying Processes

Generality in understanding biodiversity responses to climate change has been hampered by substantial variation in the rates and even directions of response to a given change in climate. We propose that such context dependencies can be clarified by rescaling climate gradients in terms of the underlying biological processes, with biotic interactions as a particularly important process. We tested this rescaling approach in a replicated field experiment where entire montane grassland communities were transplanted in the direction of expected temperature and/or precipitation change. In line with earlier work, we found considerable variation across sites in community dynamics in response to climate change. However, these complex context dependencies could be substantially reduced or eliminated by rescaling climate drivers in terms of proxies of plant−plant interactions. Specifically, bryophytes limited colonization by new species into local communities, whereas the cover of those colonists, along with bryophytes, were the primary drivers of local extinctions. These specific interactions are relatively understudied, suggesting important directions for future work in similar systems. More generally, the success of our approach in explaining and simplifying landscape-level variation in climate change responses suggests that developing and testing proxies for relevant underlying processes could be a fruitful direction for building more general models of biodiversity response to climate change.

Studies on the Potential of Winged Bean as a Multipurpose Legume Cover Crop in Tropical Regions

1984 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 297-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anjana Banerjee ◽  
D. K. Bagchi ◽  
L. K. Si
Keyword(s):  
Vegetative Growth ◽  
Cover Crop ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Winged Bean ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Growing Period ◽  
Whole Plant ◽  
Legume Cover Crop ◽  
Cultivation Methods

SUMMARYThe potential of winged bean as a multipurpose legume cover crop was shown in field trials by its abundant vegetative growth throughout the growing period of two years. Protein contents of the dry matter of the whole plant, vegetable pods, seeds and tubers were in the range 22–34, 25–30, 32–38 and 16–19%, respectively. In a comparison of two cultivation methods, significantly higher yields were obtained from staked plants than from those grown without supports; protein contents, however, remained constant.

scholarly journals Towards a system-level causative knowledge of pollinator communities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serguei Saavedra ◽  
Ignasi Bartomeus ◽  
Oscar Godoy ◽  
Rudolf Philippe Rohr ◽  
Pengjuan Zu
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Causal Analysis ◽  
System Level ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Road Map

Pollination plays a central role both in the maintenance of biodiversity and in crop production. However, habitat loss, pesticides, invasive species, and larger environmental fluctuations are contributing to a dramatic decline of numerous pollinators world-wide. This has increased the need for interventions to protect the composition, functioning, and dynamics of pollinator communities. Yet, how to make these interventions successful at the system level remains extremely challenging due to the complex nature of species interactions and the various unknown or unmeasured confounding ecological factors. Here, we propose that this knowledge can be derived by following a probabilistic causal analysis of pollinator communities. This analysis implies the inference of interventional expectations from the integration of observational and synthetic data. We propose that such synthetic data can be generated using theoretical models that can enable the tractability and scalability of unseen confounding ecological factors affecting the behavior of pollinator communities. We discuss a road map for how this probabilistic causal analysis can be accomplished to increase our system-level causative knowledge of natural communities.

Facilitation and the Organization of Communities

Ecology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Lortie
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Plant Competition ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Positive Interactions ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Reciprocal Effect ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Analytical Approaches ◽  
Plant Plant

Species interactions are a cornerstone of ecological research wherein the effects of an individual of one species on another individual, frequently a different species, are studied. Within versus between species interactions are also commonly contrasted as a means to infer relative importance, but the majority of theory advances, at least at the community level, are associated with interactions between individuals of different species. Interactions can range from positive to negative, and effects are measured at all levels of development, or life history stages, of an organism. Positive interactions have been extensively studied in both population and community ecology. Facilitation, however, is a relatively specific term that has evolved primarily to describe positive plant–plant interactions (see Defining Facilitation). Facilitation, or positive interactions, is a relatively recent subset of these species interactions in general, including related processes, such as competition, mutualism, and parasitism. Facilitation is best viewed as the antithesis of the plant competition literature, as it shares many of the main attributes, both in terms of scope and approach, and arose as a comparator to this research. Facilitation studies mainly refer to positive plant–plant interactions, as the term was proposed in the plant literature and extensively used to describe interactions that include a positive effect of one species on another. Mutualism and parasitism research is often plant–insect based and formally identifies the reciprocal effect in the interaction, that is, (+, +) in mutualism and (+,−) in parasitism, whereas facilitation studies are generally (+,0) or (+,?), with the second effect often unreported. Interactions that include at least one negative interaction are usually described as competition in the plant literature and do not apply the term facilitation (although the frequency of both being discussed concomitantly is increasing). Hence, the term facilitation, owing to historical use, describes the subset of interactions that are (+,0) and is mostly specific to within plants, although its usage is expanding. The research on facilitation has most likely peaked, similar to plant competition studies, in that facilitation has been clearly established as an important process in the formation of plant communities. Additional studies simply demonstrating facilitation are increasing unlikely to be present in the literature. That said, the implications to theory and other, more nuanced aspects of interaction, such as context dependence, shifting balances, and importance of the environment, as they relate to facilitation, are still largely unexplored. In the early 21st century the most contentious debates, with respect to facilitation, center on either disagreement concerning what a community is and whether research should be conducted at this scale or on how to use environmental gradients (i.e., stress) most effectively. Both of these topics are described herein, with readings also included on Historical Background, Experimental and Analytical Approaches, Evolution, other taxa, and Applications.

scholarly journals Ecological studies of polyploidy in the 100 years following its discovery

2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1648) ◽  
pp. 20130352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Ramsey ◽  
Tara S. Ramsey
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Genome Duplication ◽  
Crop Improvement ◽  
Plant Ecology ◽  
Ecological Context ◽  
Ecological Studies ◽  
Phenotypic Differences ◽  
Cytogenetic Studies

Polyploidy is a mutation with profound phenotypic consequences and thus hypothesized to have transformative effects in plant ecology. This is most often considered in the context of geographical and environmental distributions—as achieved from divergence of physiological and life-history traits—but may also include species interactions and biological invasion. This paper presents a historical overview of hypotheses and empirical data regarding the ecology of polyploids. Early researchers of polyploidy (1910s–1930s) were geneticists by training but nonetheless savvy to its phenotypic effects, and speculated on the importance of genome duplication to adaptation and crop improvement. Cytogenetic studies in the 1930s–1950s indicated that polyploids are larger (sturdier foliage, thicker stems and taller stature) than diploids while cytogeographic surveys suggested that polyploids and diploids have allopatric or parapatric distributions. Although autopolyploidy was initially regarded as common, influential writings by North American botanists in the 1940s and 1950s argued for the principle role of allopolyploidy; according to this view, genome duplication was significant for providing a broader canvas for hybridization rather than for its phenotypic effects per se . The emphasis on allopolyploidy had a chilling effect on nascent ecological work, in part due to taxonomic challenges posed by interspecific hybridization. Nonetheless, biosystematic efforts over the next few decades (1950s–1970s) laid the foundation for ecological research by documenting cytotype distributions and identifying phenotypic correlates of polyploidy. Rigorous investigation of polyploid ecology was achieved in the 1980s and 1990s by population biologists who leveraged flow cytometry for comparative work in autopolyploid complexes. These efforts revealed multi-faceted ecological and phenotypic differences, some of which may be direct consequences of genome duplication. Several classical hypotheses about the ecology of polyploids remain untested, however, and allopolyploidy—regarded by most botanists as the primary mode of genome duplication—is largely unstudied in an ecological context.

scholarly journals Fungal-algal interactions in Ramalina menziesii and its associated epiphytic lichen community

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silke WERTH
Keyword(s):  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Algal Species ◽  
Fungal Species ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Internal Transcribed Spacer Region ◽  
Epiphytic Lichen ◽  
Lichen Community ◽  
Symbiotic Mutualism

AbstractLichens are a fascinating example of a symbiotic mutualism. It is still uncertain which processes guide fungal-photobiont interactions, and whether they are random or of a more complex nature. Here, the fungal-algal interactions in Ramalina menziesii and co-occurring taxa are analyzed by using DNA sequences of the algal Internal Transcribed Spacer region (ITS), to investigate fungal-algal associations in juvenile R. menziesii and allied species. Algal species were identified by a combination of BLAST searches, median-joining network analysis, and Bayesian phylogenetics. Fungal-algal networks were analyzed for nestedness, both at the species and haplotype level (fungal species vs. algal haplotypes), and the networks were inspected for evidence of compartmentalization. Bayesian phylogenetic trees indicated that the widespread green alga Trebouxia decolorans associated with R. menziesii, as well as six other fungal species. Four additional fungal species interacted with four different species of Trebouxia. Only in one out of ten samples were algal haplotypes shared with the nearest neighbours of juvenile R. menziesii. Fungal-algal species interactions were compartmentalized, while at the level of algal haplotypes, nestedness was found. This pattern is similar to the compartmentalization found in other intimately interacting mutualists.

scholarly journals Geographic mosaics of interactions via heterospecific pollen transfer may contribute to shape local and global patterns of plant diversity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerardo Arceo-Gomez
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Pollen Transfer ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Heterospecific Pollen ◽  
Fitness Effects ◽  
Global Patterns ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences

Studies that aim to understand the processes that generate and organize plant diversity in nature have a long history in Ecology. Among these, pollinator-mediated plant-plant interactions that occur by altering pollinator floral preferences have been at the forefront in this field. Current evidence however indicates that plants can interact directly via heterospecific pollen (HP) transfer, that these interactions are ubiquitous, and can have strong fitness effects with implications for floral evolution, speciation and community assembly. Hence, interest in understanding their role in the diversification and organization of plant communities is rapidly rising. The existence of geographic mosaics of species interactions and their role in shaping patterns of diversity is also well recognized. However, after 40 years of research, the importance of geographic mosaics in HP intensity and effects remain poorly known, thus ignoring its potential in shaping patterns of diversity at local and global scales. Here, I develop a conceptual framework and summarize existing evidence for the ecological and evolutionary consequences of geographic mosaics in HP transfer interactions and outline future directions in this field.

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