Role of Cycad Cone Volatile Emissions and Thermogenesis in the Pollination of Encephalartos villosus Lem.: Preliminary Findings from Studies of Plant Traits and Insect Responses

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence N. Suinyuy ◽  
John S. Donaldson ◽  
Steven D. Johnson ◽  
J. DeWet Bösenberg
Keyword(s):  
Plant Traits ◽  
Volatile Emissions

scholarly journals Role of Plant Traits in Photosynthesis and Thermal Damage Avoidance under Warmer and Drier Climates in Boreal Forests

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guiomar Ruiz-Pérez ◽  
Samuli Launiainen ◽  
Giulia Vico
Keyword(s):  
Heat Stress ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Thermal Damage ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Mechanistic Model ◽  
Soil Water Depletion ◽  
Photosynthetic Rates ◽  
The Future ◽  
Growing Conditions

In the future, boreal forests will face warmer and in some cases drier conditions, potentially resulting in extreme leaf temperatures and reduced photosynthesis. One potential and still partially unexplored avenue to prepare boreal forest for future climates is the identification of plant traits that may support photosynthetic rates under a changing climate. However, the interplay among plant traits, soil water depletion and the occurrence of heat stress has been seldom explored in boreal forests. Here, a mechanistic model describing energy and mass exchanges among the soil, plant and atmosphere is employed to identify which combinations of growing conditions and plant traits allow trees to simultaneously keep high photosynthetic rates and prevent thermal damage under current and future growing conditions. Our results show that the simultaneous lack of precipitation and warm temperatures is the main trigger of thermal damage and reduction of photosynthesis. Traits that facilitate the coupling of leaves to the atmosphere are key to avoid thermal damage and guarantee the maintenance of assimilation rates in the future. Nevertheless, the same set of traits may not maximize forest productivity over current growing conditions. As such, an effective trait selection needs to explicitly consider the expected changes in the growing conditions, both in terms of averages and extremes.

scholarly journals Morphological differentiation across the invasive range in Senecio madagascariensis populations

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Dematteis ◽  
María S. Ferrucci ◽  
Juan P. Coulleri
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Morphological Differentiation ◽  
Dispersal Ability ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Environmental Pressures ◽  
Plastic Responses ◽  
New Habitats

AbstractInvasive species are characterized by their ability to colonize new habitats and establish populations away from their native range. In this sense, these plants are expected to have plastic responses to adapt to the environmental pressures during the invasion process. Hence, the role of natural selection is essential because it might favor the occurrence of advantageous traits. However, gene flow can counteract natural selection because immigrants introduce genes adapted to different conditions, with these introductions tending to homogenize allelic frequencies. In this work, we explore the effect of natural selection in invasive populations of S. madagascariensis in Argentina. We quantified leaf area, head number, and length of internodes and inflorescence from material spanning 54 years (1962–2016) and then compared between the edge versus established ranges. Our results show differences in all the measured plant traits among the sampled areas. However, only leaf area was statistically significant, which evidences different responses under the same environmental pressures in the areas located in the edge and established ranges. On the other hand, unlike homogeneous areas, the areas characterized by phenotypically diverse individuals were related to higher dispersal ability. In this sense, long-distance dispersal between neighboring areas may have had an important role in the recorded values. Furthermore, the implications of natural selection and founder effect in the invasion of S. madagascariensis are discussed.

scholarly journals The role of plant traits and their plasticity in the response of pasture grasses to nutrients and cutting frequency

2010 ◽  
Vol 105 (6) ◽  
pp. 957-965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laíse da Silveira Pontes ◽  
Frédérique Louault ◽  
Pascal Carrère ◽  
Vincent Maire ◽  
Donato Andueza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Traits ◽  
Pasture Grasses ◽  
Cutting Frequency

scholarly journals Plant–soil feedbacks: role of plant functional group and plant traits

2016 ◽  
Vol 104 (6) ◽  
pp. 1608-1617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roeland Cortois ◽  
Thomas Schröder‐Georgi ◽  
Alexandra Weigelt ◽  
Wim H. Putten ◽  
Gerlinde B. De Deyn
Keyword(s):  
Functional Group ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Plant Functional Group ◽  
Plant Soil

scholarly journals Botanical illustration and photography: a southern hemisphere perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen J. Hickman ◽  
Colin J. Yates ◽  
Stephen D. Hopper
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Systematic Botany ◽  
Whole Plant ◽  
Macro Scale ◽  
Botanical Illustration ◽  
Botanical Illustrations

To examine claims that the role of botanical art in systematic botany is diminishing because of advances in photography, this review considers relevant literature and includes a quantitative analysis of trends in modern journals, monographs and floras. Our focus is on southern hemisphere systematic botany because, relative to the northern hemisphere, this is poorly represented in modern reviews of botanical art and photography. An analysis of all digitally available papers in Nuytsia, the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Garden, Muelleria, Telopea, Austrobaileya and Systematic Botany established that, although photographic illustrations have increased since 2000, botanical illustrations have not always diminished. The cause of these trends is unknown, but it is likely to be due to several factors, including sourcing funding for production of botanical illustration, editorial preference for the use of illustrations or photographs, author preference for either illustrations or photographs, and moving to online publication, with no charges for colour reproduction. Moreover, the inclusion of botanical artists as co-authors in some scientific publications signals an ongoing and important role. Botanical illustration brings sharp focus and meticulous attention to detail regarding form and structure of plants. Photography is useful at the macro-scale for habitat and whole-plant traits, as well as at the micro-scale for anatomical textures and ultrastructure. These complementary approaches can be important components of taxonomic discovery, with the potential for a new role in modern trait analysis in molecular phylogenies.

scholarly journals Leaf Volatiles from Two Corydalis Species Lure A Keystone Seed-dispersing Ant and Enhance Seed Retrieval

Sociobiology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Zhu ◽  
Dong Wang
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Diethyl Ether ◽  
Plant Volatiles ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Fresh Leaf ◽  
Leaf Volatiles ◽  
Behavior Response ◽  
Test Behavior

It has been reported that a suit of plant traits can regulate the ant-seed interaction and subsequently affect the seed dispersal. However, the role of plant volatiles in attracting the ants for seed dispersal remains little examined. We used a Y-tube olfactometer to test behavior response of a keystone seed-dispersing ant (Pristomyrmex pungens Mayr) to leaves and seeds of five co-occurring myrmecochorous Corydalis species (C. wilfordii Regel, C. racemosa (Thunberg) Persoon, C. sheareri S. Moore, C. balansae Prain and C. incisa (Thunberg) Persoon). Of the five species, only C. wilfordii and C. racemosa leaves emits heavily volatiles. We also performed seed cafeteria experiments to assess the effect of leaf volatiles from C. racemosa on seed retrieval by presenting simultaneously the seeds near the fresh leaf and the leaf immersed by diethyl ether both in the field and lab. The experiment using Y-tube showed that the ants were only significantly attracted by the fresh leaves of two species, C. wilfordii and C. racemosa. The cafeteria experiments showed that ants spent less time to detect the C. racemosa seeds which were near the fresh leaf, and transported these seeds more quickly. This indicated that the leaf volatiles can function as an attractant for the dispersing ants, and ant preference in turn enhance the seed retrieval. The findings reveal that leaf volatiles can play na important but underestimated role in shaping the ant-seed dispersing interactions.

Plant traits and ecological dynamics

2020 ◽  
pp. 161-218
Author(s):  
John D. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Functional Traits ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Regeneration Niche ◽  
Summer Drought ◽  
Mosaic Landscape ◽  
Ecological Dynamics ◽  
Mediterranean Landscape ◽  
Dynamics Of Populations

This chapter examines the multiple facets of trait variation and ecological dynamics in the contemporary Mediterranean landscape. Climatic constraints and transitions are paramount here. Diverse functional traits and strategies have evolved to avoid or tolerate the summer drought and the irregularity of spring rainfall. Annual plants do their best to avoid such constraints, and the role of functional traits in the regeneration niche and life-history strategy is undeniable. Perennial plants face the challenge of surviving their first summer and from then on illustrate a demographic persistence strategy. Dispersal and establishment generate interactions among species across a mosaic landscape where transitions between positive and negative interactions characterize successional dynamics. The study of two main features of the Mediterranean flora, its response to fire, and the diversity of aromatic plants illustrate well the importance of plant traits in the ecological dynamics of populations and communities in the mosaic landscape.

scholarly journals Differential germination strategies of native and introduced populations of the invasive species Plantago virginica

NeoBiota ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 101-118
Author(s):  
Xinyu Xu ◽  
Lorne Wolfe ◽  
Jeffrey Diez ◽  
Yi Zheng ◽  
Hui Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Traits ◽  
Rapid Evolution ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Introduced Populations ◽  
Introduced Range ◽  
Native Populations ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Native North America ◽  
Germination Traits

Germination strategies are critically important for the survival, establishment and spread of plant species. Although many plant traits related to invasiveness have been broadly studied, the earliest part of the life cycle, germination, has received relatively little attention. Here, we compared the germination patterns between native (North America) and introduced (China) populations of Plantagovirginica for four consecutive years to examine whether there has been adaptive differentiation in germination traits and how these traits are related to local climatic conditions. We found that the introduced populations of P.virginica had significantly higher germination percentages and faster and shorter durations of germination than native populations. Critically, the native populations had a significantly larger proportion of seeds that stayed dormant in all four years, with only 60% of seeds germinating in year 1 (compared to >95% in introduced populations). These results demonstrate striking differences in germination strategies between native and introduced populations which may contribute to their successful invasion. Moreover, the germination strategy of P.virginica in their native range exhibited clear geographical variation across populations, with trends towards higher germination percentages at higher latitudes and lower annual mean temperatures and annual precipitation. In the introduced range, however, their germination strategies were more conserved, with less variation amongst populations, suggesting that P.virginica may have experienced strong selection for earlier life history characteristics. Our findings highlight the need to examine the role of rapid evolution of germination traits in facilitating plant invasion.

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