scholarly journals Applying continuous functional traits to large brown macroalgae: variation across tidal emersion and wave exposure gradients

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Cappelatti ◽  
Alizée R. L. Mauffrey ◽  
John N. Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Stress Tolerance ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Elevation Gradient ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Wave Exposure ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Brown Macroalgae ◽  
Trade Off

ABSTRACTA functional trait-based approach seeks a general understanding of organism - environment interactions, but, among primary producers, its empirical basis rests on vascular plants. We hypothesised that with increasing intertidal elevation, traits of large brown macroalgae would reflect a resource-acquisition vs. conservation (stress tolerance) trade-off at species and community levels. Across the elevation gradient at four UK sites of varying wave exposure, we: i) screened species’ relevant morphological traits, using principal component analysis to reduce dimensionality; and ii) up-scaled species’ traits using community weighted trait means (CWMs). The first principal component (PC1) strongly related to specific thallus area and thallus dry matter content, representing an acquisition - conservation trade-off. Although species generally shifted to the conservative end of this axis as elevation increased, mid-shore Ascophyllum nodosum sat at the extreme conservative end. PC2 associated with holdfast ratio, thickness and length, with A. nodusum scoring higher than other mid-shore species. CWMs of PC1 decreased with elevation at two sites indicating a shift from ‘fast’ to ‘slow’ ecosystem functioning, but this relationship was disrupted by A. nodusum at the sheltered site, and by the up-shore extent of Laminaria digitata at the most exposed site. The anomalous traits of A. nodusum reflect its unique competitive strategy (slow, persistent growth) in the relatively stressful mid-shore. Seaweed functional traits show promise in linking species’ identities to their strategies and ecosystem contributions. However, because resource conservation traits can be related to competitive as well as stress tolerance strategies, predicting seaweed trait responses to environmental stress gradients is challenging.

scholarly journals Applying continuous functional traits to large brown macroalgae: variation across tidal emersion and wave exposure gradients

2019 ◽  
Vol 166 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Cappelatti ◽  
Alizée R. L. Mauffrey ◽  
John N. Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Stress Tolerance ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Elevation Gradient ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Wave Exposure ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Brown Macroalgae ◽  
Trade Off

Abstract Ecologists use a functional trait-based approach to seek a general understanding of organism—environment interactions, but, among primary producers, the empirical basis rests on vascular plants. We hypothesised that with increasing intertidal elevation, traits of large brown macroalgae would reflect a resource acquisition vs. conservation (stress tolerance) trade-off at species and community levels. Across the elevation gradient at four UK sites of varying wave exposure, we: (1) screened species’ relevant morphological traits, using principal component analysis to reduce dimensionality; and (2) up-scaled species’ traits using community weighted trait means (CWMs). The first principal component (PC1) strongly related to specific thallus area and thallus dry matter content, representing an acquisition–conservation trade-off. Although species generally shifted to the conservative end of this axis as elevation increased, mid-shore Ascophyllum nodosum sat at the extreme conservative end. PC2 related to holdfast ratio, thickness and length, with A. nodosum scoring higher than other mid-shore species. CWMs of PC1 decreased with elevation at two sites indicating a shift from ‘fast’ to ‘slow’ ecosystem functioning, but this relationship was disrupted by A. nodosum at the sheltered site, and by the up-shore extent of Laminaria digitata at the most exposed site. The anomalous traits of A. nodosum reflect its unique competitive strategy (slow, persistent growth) in the relatively stressful mid-shore. Seaweed functional traits show promise in linking species’ identities to their strategies and ecosystem contributions. However, because resource conservation traits can be related to competitive as well as stress-tolerance strategies, predicting seaweed trait responses to environmental stress gradients is challenging.

scholarly journals Intraspecific differences in plant functional traits are related to urban atmospheric particulate matter

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiyou Zhu ◽  
Chengyang Xu
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Stomatal Density ◽  
Leaf Tissue ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Atmospheric Particulate Matter ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Atmospheric Particulate ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Content Index

Abstract Background Functional trait-based ecological research has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of environmental changes. It is still, however, unclear how the functional traits of urban plants respond to atmospheric particulate matter, and which trade-off strategies are shown. In order to explore the variation of plant functional traits with the gradient of urban atmospheric particulate matter, we divided atmospheric particulate matter into three levels according to road distance, and measured the variation of six essential leaf functional traits and their trade-off strategies. Results Here, we show that the functional traits of plants can be used as predictors of plant response to urban atmospheric particulate matter. Within the study, leaf thickness, leaf dry matter content, leaf tissue density, stomatal density were positively correlated with atmospheric particulate matter. On the contrary, chlorophyll content index and specific leaf area were negatively correlated with atmospheric particulate matter. Plants can improve the efficiency of gas exchange by optimizing the spatial distribution of leaf stomata. Under the atmospheric particulate matter environment, urban plants show a trade-off relationship of economics spectrum traits at the intraspecific level. Conclusion Under the influence of urban atmospheric particulate matter, urban plant shows a “slow investment-return” type in the leaf economics spectrum at the intraspecific level, with lower specific leaf area, lower chlorophyll content index, ticker leaves, higher leaf dry matter content, higher leaf tissue density and higher stomatal density. This finding provides a new perspective for understanding the resource trades-off strategy of plants adapting to atmospheric particulate matter.

Leaf Functional Traits Differentiation and Its Trade-off Strategies of Urban Plant are Related to Atmospheric Particulate Pollution

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiyou Zhu ◽  
Qing Xu ◽  
Chengyang Xu ◽  
Xinna Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Functional Traits ◽  
Leaf Tissue ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Dust Deposition ◽  
Atmospheric Particulate ◽  
Leaf Dry Matter Content ◽  
Leaf Functional Traits ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Particulate Pollution

Abstract Background: Functional trait-based ecological research has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of understanding of environmental changes. It is still, however, unclear how the functional traits of urban plants respond to atmospheric particulate pollution, and what trade-off strategies are shown. In order to explore the variation of plant functional traits with urban atmospheric particulate pollution gradient, we divided atmospheric particulate pollution into three levels according to road distance, and measured the variation of six key leaf functional traits and their trade-off strategies. Results: Here, we show that the functional traits of plants can be used as predictors or indicators of the response of plant to urban atmospheric particulate pollution. Within studies, there was a positive correlation between leaf thickness, leaf dry matter content, leaf tissue density, stomata density and leaf dust deposition. While chlorophyll content index and specific leaf area were negatively correlated with the leaf dust deposition. Plants improve the efficiency of gas exchange by optimizing the spatial distribution of stomata of leaves. Dust deposition promotes the regular distribution of stomata. Due to the pressure of atmospheric particles, urban plant shows a trade-off relationship of economics spectrum traits at the leaf level. Taken together, these results indicate that urban atmospheric particulate pollution is the main factor causing the variation of plant functional traits. Conclusion：Under the influence of urban atmospheric particulate matter, plant show a "slow investment-return" type in the global leaf economics spectrum, with lower specific leaf area, lower chlorophyll content, larger leaf thickness, higher leaf dry matter content, higher leaf tissue density and higher stomatal density. This finding provides a new perspective for understanding the resource trades-off strategy of plants adapting to air pollution environment.

Environmental factors driving plant trait distributions in coastal zones of Atlantic Forest

Rodriguésia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lays Lins ◽  
Juliana Da Silva-Pinheiro ◽  
Ricardo Correia ◽  
Laurício Endres ◽  
Ana Cláudia Mendes Malhado ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intraspecific Variation ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Coastal Zones ◽  
Environmental Filters

Abstract Environmental filtering has been defined as the effect of environmental gradients on species in a plant community and can be the dominant driver of community assembly. Here, we evaluate the relationship between plant communities and the environment in the Restinga vegetation. For this, we measured 11 functional traits of plant species present along transects covering a marked edaphic environmental gradient. This gradient was characterized through Principal Component Analysis of soil characteristics. The relationships between the edaphic gradient and functional traits were evaluated using linear models. Finally, we compared the contributions of species turnover and intraspecific variation to among-site variation in functional traits. The gradients associated with soil nutrients (PCA axis 1) and soil acidity and organic matter (PCA axis 2) were then used to test the observed changes in community composition and were significant predictors of the distribution of water potential, leaf dry matter content and K content, height and chlorophyll index. Decomposing the total variation in the distribution of functional traits between species turnover and intraspecific variation revealed that species turnover explains a greater proportion of the observed variation. We conclude that community assembly is strongly limited by environmental filters and mediated by functional traits at the species level.

scholarly journals Functional Traits of Olive Varieties and Their Relationship with the Tolerance Level towards Verticillium Wilt

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1079
Author(s):  
Martina Cardoni ◽  
Jesús Mercado-Blanco ◽  
Rafael Villar
Keyword(s):  
Functional Traits ◽  
Verticillium Wilt ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Lignin Content ◽  
Root System Architecture ◽  
Root Diameter ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Tolerance Level ◽  
Olive Varieties

Verticillium wilt of olive (VWO), caused by the soil-borne pathogen Verticillium dahliae, is considered one of the most important diseases affecting this tree crop. One of the best VWO management measures is the use of tolerant cultivars. Remarkably, no information is available about olive functional traits and their potential relationship with tolerance to V. dahliae. Twenty-five selected functional traits (for leaf, stem, root and whole plant) were evaluated in six olive varieties differing in their VWO tolerance level to identify possible links between this phenotype and functional traits’ variation. High intervarietal diversity was found among cultivars and several functional traits were related with VWO tolerance. Tolerant varieties showed higher leaf area, dry matter content (leaf, stem and plant) and mass fraction for stems, but lower for leaves. Significant differences were also detected for root functional traits, tolerant cultivars displaying larger fine root diameter and lignin content but smaller specific length and area of thick and fine roots. Correlations were found among functional traits both within varieties and between levels of tolerance/susceptibility to VWO. Associations were observed between biomass allocation, dry matter content and VWO tolerance. The most relevant difference between tolerant and susceptible cultivars was related to root system architecture.

scholarly journals Direct and Indirect Effects of Precipitation Change and Nutrients Addition on Desert Steppe Productivity in Inner Mongolia, Northern China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinxin Guo ◽  
Xiaoan Zuo ◽  
Ping Yue ◽  
Xiangyun Li ◽  
Ya Hu
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Nutrient Addition ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Leaf Nitrogen Content ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Desert Steppe ◽  
Precipitation Changes

Abstract Background and Aims Global changes profoundly impact on structure and function of grassland ecosystem. However, it remains unclear on the mechanism of how multiple limiting resources affect plant community primary productivity (ANPP) in desert steppe.Methods Here, we conducted an experiment to examine the effects of precipitation changes (natural and ± 50% precipitation) and nutrient addition (=N: 0 g·m-2·yr-1; +N: N 10 g·m-2·yr-1; +NPK: N/P/K each for 10 g·m-2·yr-1) on species diversity, ANPP, functional traits and soil properties. We used structural equation model (SEM) to evaluate the effects of precipitation changes and nutrient addition on ANPP.Results Increased precipitation increased species diversity and ANPP under NPK addition, NPK addition increased ANPP under increased precipitation, and the interaction of precipitation changes and nutrient addition was significant for ANPP. Drought reduced plant height and leaf dry matter content (LDMC), but increased leaf nitrogen content (LNC). ANPP was positively correlated with species richness, abundance, height and LDMC, but negatively correlated with specific leaf area (SLA) and LNC. The SEM showed increased precipitation and nutrient addition directly increased ANPP. Altered precipitation indirectly affected ANPP through its effect on abundance and SLA, while nutrient addition indirectly affected ANPP only through its effect on abundance.Conclusion The combined limitations of precipitation and multiple nutrients deserves more attention in studying the effect of global changes on productivity in arid steppe. Our results highlight the importance of species diversity and functional traits in driving short-term responses of ANPP to environmental factors in desert steppe ecosystems.

scholarly journals Effects of age and time of day of sampling on proximate and fatty acid composition of whole eggs from two strains of laying hens

2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Stanišić ◽  
V. Petričević ◽  
Z. Škrbić ◽  
M. Lukić ◽  
Z. Pavlovski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Fatty Acid Composition ◽  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Acid Composition ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Total N ◽  
Total Pufa

Abstract. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of breed (Naked Neck – NN – and Lohmann Brown – LB), age (46 to 49 weeks) and the time of day of sampling (morning eggs – M – and afternoon eggs – A) on the proximate and fatty acid composition of whole eggs. Eggs of commercial hens (LB) had significantly (P < 0.001) less fat, ash and protein and lower dry-matter content (more water content) compared to the autochthonous breed (NN). The NN eggs contained significantly (P < 0.001) more SFA (saturated fatty acid) and less PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acid) than LB ones, while the share of the eggs' total n-3 fatty acids did not differ significantly between breeds. The share of total MUFA (monounsaturated fatty acid) significantly (P = 0.011) decreased, while the share of total PUFA, n-6 and n-6 / n-3 ratio significantly increased (P < 0.001; P < 0.001; P = 0.032, respectively) with age of hens. Additionally, compared with morning eggs, afternoon eggs had a significantly (P = 0.046) higher share of total n-6 fatty acids. PCA (principal component analysis) offered a good separation of the samples according to breed and age when two first principal component were extracted. PC1 was positively related to parameters of proximate composition and SFA content, while PC2 was positively determined by PUFA, n-6 and n-3 content. Eggs of autochthonous hens (NN) were located in the positive area of PC1, whereas those from the commercial hens (LB) were in the negative quarter, which indicates opposite characteristics.

scholarly journals IDENTIFICATION OF THE MAIN PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES INFLUENCING THE QUALITY OF THYME (SATUREJA HORTENSIS)

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
SIMONA GHINITA CONSTANTIN ◽  
MIRELA PRAISLER ◽  
GABRIELA IORDĂCHESCU
Keyword(s):  
Monosodium Glutamate ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Satureja Hortensis ◽  
Umami Taste ◽  
Physico Chemical

<p>Thyme (<em>Satureja hortensis</em>) is a popular spice for food, which is also often used as a medicine for various ailments. This paper presents an artificial intelligence method applied for the objective determination of the most important physico-chemical variables affecting the quality of thyme, i.e. Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The results show that the main properties which significantly influence the nutritional value of thyme are moisture (MOIST), dry matter content (DRYM), protein content (PROT) and, to a lesser extent, carbohydrate content (CARB). Humidity is strongly and negatively correlated with the latter three variables. The main variable that ensures the similarity between the thyme samples having the same geographical origin is the monosodium glutamate content, which generates its delicious (umami) taste.</p>

scholarly journals The acquisitive-conservative axis of leaf trait variation emerges even in homogeneous environments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas D Gorné ◽  
Sandra Díaz ◽  
Vanessa Minden ◽  
Yusuke Onoda ◽  
Koen Kramer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Traits ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Common Garden ◽  
Environmental Variation ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Growth Potential ◽  
Leaf Nitrogen Content ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Leaf Functional Traits ◽  
Leaf Trait

Abstract Background and Aims The acquisitive-conservative axis of plant ecological strategies results in a pattern of leaf trait covariation that captures the balance between leaf construction costs and plant growth potential. Studies evaluating trait covariation within species are scarcer, and have mostly dealt with variation in response to environmental gradients. Little work has been published on intraspecific patterns of leaf trait covariation in the absence of strong environmental variation. Methods We analysed covariation of four leaf functional traits (SLA: specific leaf area, LDMC: leaf dry matter content, Ft: force to tear, and Nm: leaf nitrogen content) in six Poaceae and four Fabaceae species common in the dry Chaco forest of Central Argentina, growing in the field and in a common garden. We compared intraspecific covariation patterns (slopes, correlation and effect size) of leaf functional traits with global interspecific covariation patterns. Additionally, we checked for possible climatic and edaphic factors that could affect the intraspecific covariation pattern. Key Results We found negative correlations for the LDMC-SLA, Ft-SLA, LDMC-Nm, and Ft-Nm trait pairs. This intraspecific covariation pattern found both in the field and in the common garden and not be explained by climatic or edaphic variation in the field follows the expected acquisitive-conservative axis. At the same time, we found quantitative differences in slopes among different species, and between these intraspecific patterns and the interspecific ones. Many of these differences seem to be idiosyncratic, but some appear consistent among species (e.g.all the intraspecific LDMC-SLA and LDMC-Nm slopes tend to be shallower than the global). Conclusions Our study indicates that the acquisitive-conservative leaf functional trait covariation pattern occurs at the intraspecific level even in the absence of relevant environmental variation in the field. This suggests a high degree of variation-covariation in leaf functional traits not driven by environmental variables.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document