Plant Traits of Phalaris Arundinacea and Phragmites Australis – Examining Effects of Water Level, Salinity, and Soil Types in a Mesocosm Experiment

Knowledge about the distribution of species along rivers and estuaries is the basis for decisions in nature conservation, but also for nature-based coastal and shore protection. Along rivers and estuaries, abiotic conditions affect plant traits, especially close to the marsh edge, and thus determine the distribution of plant species. Phragmites australis and Phalaris arundinacea occur along the German Elbe in the inland river and in the estuary, but the distribution of both species is locally and regionally inhomogeneous. We therefore simulated abiotic conditions of respective Elbe sections in a mesocosm experiment and investigated the influence of soil type, salinity, water level, and plant provenance on plant traits of P. australis and P. arundinacea. We compared growth-related and mechanical plant traits of both species. Productivity of P. arundinacea was less affected by sandy soil than that of P. australis. P. australis was insensitive to salinity and water level fluctuations, while traits of P. arundinacea responded to these factors. Furthermore, mechanical properties within a species were mainly dependent on plant growth. P. arundinacea was more flexible than P. australis, which can be attributed to morphological differences and differences in plant tissue. Plant provenance did not affect the response of plant traits to abiotic conditions. Our study provides clues for understanding the distribution patterns of P. australis and P. arundinacea.

Variability in ITS1 and ITS2 sequences of historic herbaria and extant (fresh) Phalaris species (Poaceae)

Background Phalaris species (Poaceae) occupy diverse environments throughout all continents except Antarctica. Phalaris arundinacea is an important forage, ornamental, wetland restoration and biofuel crop grown globally as well as being a wetland invasive. The nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region has been used for Phalaris barcoding as a DNA region with high nucleotide diversity for Phalaris species identification. Recent findings that P. arundinacea populations in Minnesota USA are most likely native and not European prompted this analysis to determine whether Eurasian vs. native North American P. arundinacea differed in ITS regions. Our objectives were to amplify and compare ITS regions (ITS1 and ITS2) of historic herbaria (1882–2001) and extant (fresh) Phalaris specimens; analyze ITS regions for species-specific polymorphisms (diagnostic SNPs) and compare ITS regions of historic Phalaris specimens with known, extant Phalaris species. Results We obtained complete ITS1 and ITS2 sequences from 31 Phalaris historic (herbaria samples, 1908 to 2001) and five extant (fresh) specimens. Herbaria Phalaris specimens did not produce new SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) not present in extant specimens. Diagnostic SNPs were identified in 8/12 (66.6%) Phalaris species. This study demonstrates the use of herbaria tissue for barcoding as a means for improved species identification of Phalaris herbaria specimens. No significant correlation between specimen age and genomic DNA concentration was found. Phalaris arundinacea showed high SNP variation within its clade, with the North American being distinctly different than other USA and most Eurasian types, potentially allowing for future identification of specific SNPs to geographic origin. Conclusions While not as efficient as extant specimens to obtain DNA, Phalaris herbaria specimens can produce high quality ITS sequences to evaluate historic genetic resources and facilitate identification of new species-specific barcodes. No correlation between DNA concentration and age of historic samples (119 year range) occurred. Considerable polymorphism was exhibited in the P. arundinacea clade with several N. American accessions being distinct from Eurasian types. Further development of within species- and genus-specific barcodes could contribute to designing PCR primers for efficient and accurate identification of N. American P. arundinacea. Our finding of misidentified Phalaris species indicates the need to exercise stringent quality control measures on newly generated sequence data and to approach public sequence databases in a critical way.

Comparación de la fibra detergente neutra en gramíneas, calculada mediante algoritmo de análisis de imágenes rojo, verde y azul vs espectroscopia del infrarrojo cercano

El trabajo estuvo orientado a evaluar la precisión del algoritmo de análisis de imágenes Red, Green, Blue (RGB) incluido en el software TaurusWebs V2017® para el cálculo del porcentaje de fibra detergente neutra (FDN) en la materia seca de gramíneas, a partir de imágenes de las praderas tomadas por un dron con cámara RGB. Los resultados fueron comparados con los valores de FDN calculados con espectroscopia del infrarrojo cercano (NIRS). Se tomaron 42 muestras para NIRS: 18 de gramíneas de trópico alto en Cundinamarca: kikuyo (Pennisetum clandestinum), falsa poa (Holcus lanatus) y pasto brasilero (Phalaris arundinacea) y 24 de trópico bajo en Tolima, Colombia: pangola (Digitaria decumbens), pará (Brachiaria mutica), bermuda (Cynodon dactylon) y colosuana (Bothriochloa pertusa). Los resultados se compararon contra 180 evaluaciones hechas con el algoritmo de las imágenes de las mismas gramíneas donde se tomaron las muestras para NIRS. Las pruebas de correlación de Kendall y de Spearman fueron significativas (p<0.05), con una asociación de rho=0.81 para la prueba de hipótesis de Kruskal Wallis (p> 0.05). No hubo diferencias significativas en los valores de FDN bajo las dos metodologías y según la prueba de Wilcoxon las medianas de la FDN calculada por NIRS vs. las del algoritmo son iguales. En conclusión, la información generada con el algoritmo se puede utilizar para trabajos de análisis del FDN en gramíneas.