Application of Introduced Representatives of Lonicera pileata Oliv. in Landscaping of the Right-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine

This article deals with the possibilities to introduce the ornamental shrub Lonicera pileata Oliv. belonging to Caprifoliaceae Vent. family in the landscaping of the Right-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. The representatives of Lonicera pileata Oliv. (Cultivars Рileata, form Variegata and form Lemon Beauty) endure winter well and adapt to new climatic conditions of the planting site. The plants were found tolerant to shade, cold, pruning, and urban ecological conditions with polluted air. It has been revealed that, depending on the purpose of the landscaping object, these shrubs can perform various functions: create architectural and artistic image of the object; promote biological land reclamation along with other plants; protect against dust and noise; regulate moisture and temperature. Simultaneously, to grow plants of Lonicera pileata Oliv. successfully, it is critical to use farming techniques developed by the author scientists. When the representatives of evergreen shrubs of Lonicera pileata Oliv. are introduced in the landscaping of residential areas, they can be used to decorate landscape-gardening objects with different functional use creating landscape compositions in gardens and parks, on the plots with different exposition and slopes, as anti-erosion plants, in alpine landscapes, as freestanding shrubs or in group plantations, at the background of lawns, in flowerbeds, in alpine screen gardens, in rockeries, in freely growing and trimmed hedges, and as ground-covering plants.

Vegetation responses to 26 years of warming at Latnjajaure Field Station, northern Sweden.

Climate change is rapidly warming high latitude and high elevation regions influencing plant community composition. Changes in vegetation composition have motivated the coordination of ecological monitoring networks across the Arctic, including the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX). We have established a long-term passive warming experiment using open-top chambers, which includes five distinct plant communities (Dry Heath; Tussock Tundra; and Dry, Mesic, and Wet Meadow). We have measured changes in plant community composition based on relative abundance differences over 26 years. In addition, relative abundance changes in response to fertilization and warming treatments were analysed based on a 7-year Community-Level Interaction Program (CLIP) experiment. The communities had distinct soil moisture conditions, leading to community specific responses of the plant growth forms (deciduous shrubs, evergreen shrubs, forbs and graminoids). Warming significantly affected growth forms, but the direction of the response was not consistent across the communities. Evidence of shrub expansion was found in nearly all communities, with soil moisture determining whether it was driven by deciduous or evergreen shrubs. Graminoids increased in relative abundance in the Dry Meadow due to warming. Growth form responses to warming are likely mediated by edaphic characteristics of the communities and their interactions with climate.

Modern assessment of natural dendroflora of the Crimea

The species composition of the indigenous woody plants of theCrimeawas studied. For the peninsula, 165 species of 58 genera and 31 families were recorded. 148 forms for 50 species of woody plants from 34 genera as well as 11 hybrids for 6 species of plants have been described. In total, there are 320 taxa of woody plants in theCrimea. Of them, 24 species are included in Red Data Book. Woody plants are distributed unevenly across the territory of the Crimea: Crimean Steppe (CS) - 1 species, Crimean Forest-Steppe (CFS) - 5, Mountanious Crimea (MC) - 37, Crimean Southern Coast (CSC) -7, CS+CFS+VC+ CSC - 26, CS+CFS+ CSC - 3, CS+ CSC - 2, CS+CFS+MC - 4, CS+CFS - 2, CS+MC+ CSC - 2, CS+MC -1, CFS+MC+ CSC - 30, CFS+ CSC - 5, CFS+MC - 14, MC+ CSC - 27 species. Dominating are the genera:Rosa- 16 species, Rubus - 21, Crataegus - 15. There are 101 species of shrubs and 64 species of trees; of them evergreen deciduous trees - 1, coniferous - 8, evergreen shrubs - 10, deciduous species - 146 species. Locally distributed are 19 species of the following genera: Arbutus, Betula, Daphne, Myricaria, Nitraria, Rubus, Ruscus, Vitex.

FEATURES OF PROPAGATION OF EVERGREEN SHRUBS WITH LIGNIFIED CUTTINGS

The expediency of cutting lignified cuttings of evergreen ornamental shrubs both in the greenhouse and in the open ground is shown. The highest rates of growth and activity of peripheral meristems are characterized by plants from the lower cuttings. It is shown that the rate of initial development of plants (the number and length of roots) when rooting cuttings are not always indicators of the rate of further growth and development of plants when growing in a nursery. The use of lower and middle lignified cuttings for vegetative propagation of strong and medium-sized shrub species makes it possible in Uzbekistan to obtain ready-made planting material in the year of cuttings.

Shrub traits of forest and shrubland reveal different growth strategies

<p>Shrub plants play important roles in both forest and shrubland ecosystems. Analyzing the differences of functional traits of shrubs grown in understory of forest communities and in various shrublands can explore the adaptation strategies of shrubs in different habitats. Nine functional traits of leaf and twig collected from 20 dominant shrub species in 24 plots distributed in three habitats: forest shrub layer, secondary shrubland and primary shrubland, in Beishan Mountain of Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, eastern China, were measured. The overall differences, inter- and intra-specific variations and the differences in various life forms of shrub traits in three different habitats were statistically analyzed. Results show that: 1) There are differences of nine plant traits for shrubs grown in three different habitats. The understory shrubs have larger leaf area (LA) and specific leaf area (SLA), smaller leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf tissue density (LTD) and twig tissue density (TTD), while shrubs in secondary shrubland have larger leaf thickness (LT) and LTD, smaller SLA and twig dry matter content (TDMC) compared with shrubs from the primary shrubland. 2) The intraspecific variation coefficients of SLA, twig diameter (TD), TTD, and TDMC in understory shrubs are the largest, while the interspecific variation coefficients of SLA, LDMC, TDMC, and TTD in ​​secondary shrubland are the smallest. 3) Among different life forms, the understory evergreen shrubs have significant higher LT, LTD, and LDMC than deciduous shrubs, while deciduous shrubs have significant higher SLA than evergreen shrubs. The differences of LT and SLA between evergreen and deciduous shrubs of primary shrubland are the same as those of understory shrubs, but the differences of LTD and LDMC between evergreen and deciduous shrubs have the opposite trend. 4) The main source affecting shrub traits is species, along with an explanation ratio from 38.01% to 78.92%. The second source is habitat. In short, compared to shrubs from shrublands, understory shrubs in forest communities form a series of trait combinations that are larger LA and SLA, smaller LTD, TTD, and LDMC to adapt to the understory environment with less light and stronger competition. Secondary shrubland, compared to the primary shrubland, has a series of shrub trait combinations that are larger LT, LTD and TD, smaller LA, SLA, TDMC and twig bark thickness (TBT) to store more nutrients.</p>

Effects of ambient climate and three different warming treatments on fruit production in an alpine meadow community

Climate change is already having a major impact on alpine and arctic regions, and inter-annual variations in temperature are likely to increase. In a four-year study focusing on fruit production by an alpine plant community in northern Sweden, we applied three different warming regimes over the years. Treatments consisted of (a) a static level of warming with open-top chambers (OTC), (b) press warming, a yearly stepwise increases in warming, and (c) pulse warming, a single-year pulse event of higher warming. We analysed the relationship between fruit production and monthly temperatures during the budding period, fruiting period, and whole fruit production period, and the effect of winter and summer precipitation on fruit production. We found a significant effect of both year and treatment on total fruit production (highest in the press and lowest in the pulse treatment) and in the evergreen shrubs Cassiope tetragona (highest fruit production in press and lowest in pulse treatment) and Dryas octopetala (highest fruit production in press and pulse treatments), with large variations between treatments and years. Year, but not treatment, had a significant effect on deciduous shrubs and graminoids, both of which increased fruit production over the years, while forbs were negatively affected by the press treatment, but not year. Fruit production was influenced by ambient temperature during previous-year budding period, current-year fruiting period and the whole fruit production period. Minimum and average temperature were more important than maximum temperature. In general, increased precipitation was negatively correlated with fruit production. Summer precipitation decreased fruit production of D. octopetala, graminoids, deciduous shrubs, and total fruit production. Winter precipitation had a negative effect on fruit production of C. tetragona, evergreen shrubs, and total fruit production, while graminoids were positive affected. Similarly, the combined precipitation (winter and summer) had negative effect on fruit production of D. octopetala, deciduous and evergreen shrubs, graminoids, and total fruit production. In contrast, fruit production of forbs was not affected by precipitation. These results indicate that the predicted increased climate variability and increase in precipitation due to climate change may affect plant reproductive output and long-term community dynamics in alpine meadow communities.

Ploidy, Relative Genome Size, and Inheritance of Spotted Foliage in Aucuba Species (Garryaceae)

Aucuba have been cultivated for centuries and are valued as adaptable, broad-leaved, evergreen shrubs that also can have attractive, spotted variegations on the foliage. Improved understanding of the cytogenetics and heritability of specific traits, for specific clones and cultivars, can provide basic information to help facilitate the breeding and improvement of aucuba. The objectives of this study were to determine ploidy level and relative genome size of a diverse collection of species and cultivars of aucuba using flow cytometry and cytology and to make additional observations on heritability of spotted leaf variegation. Chromosome counts were 2n = 2x = 16 for Aucuba chinensis (A. omeiensis), 2n = 4x = 32 for A. japonica ‘Rozannie’, and 2n = 6x = 48 for A. sp. ‘Hosoba’. Relative 2C genome size for the 57 taxa varied from 13.8 pg for A. obcordata to 42.0 pg for A. ‘Hosoba’ and fell within three discrete groups consistent with cytotype. Genome size for diploid taxa (A. chinensis and A. obcordata) ranged from 13.8 to 21.0 pg, tetraploids (A. himalaica var. oblanceolata, A. japonica, and A. japonica var. borealis) ranged from 28.8 to 31.2 pg, and the first-ever reported hexaploids (A. ‘Hosoba’ and A. sp. – Vietnam) ranged from 40.5 to 42.0 pg. Unlike prior reports that indicated inheritance of spotted variegations were extranuclear genes that were maternally inherited, we found that the spotted leaf trait expressed in A. japonica ‘Shilpot’ appears to be a nuclear gene that is inherited in a quantitative fashion and not strictly maternal. These data provide an enhanced foundation for breeding improved aucuba.