Given that the ecological niche of tree species is typically narrower for earlier life stages, intraspecific genetic variation at early fitness traits may greatly influence the adaptive response of tree populations to changing environmental conditions. In this study, we evaluated genetic variation in early fitness traits among 12 populations of Betula pendula from a wide latitudinal range in Europe

The genus Potentilla L. (Rosaceae) has been subjected to several phylogenetic studies, but resolving its evolutionary history has proven challenging. Previous analyses recovered six, informally named, groups: the Argentea, Ivesioid, Fragarioides, Reptans, Alba and Anserina clades, but the relationships among some of these clades differ between data sets. The Reptans clade, which includes the type species

In a recent publication, we proposed that adjusting lifespan in order to synchronise senescence is important for timing of reproduction, and we quantified the synchrony of reproductive timing relative to germination timing. Here, in a second sequential seeding experiment (SSE), the germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana accessions were manipulated and plants were then grown under two different

Despite their near ubiquity across global ecosystems, the underlying mechanisms contributing to the success of invasive plants remains largely unknown. In particular, ecophysiological traits, which are fundamental to plants’ performance and response to their environment, are poorly understood with respect to geographic and climate space. We evaluated photosynthetic trait variation among populations

Genetic diversity defines the evolutionary potential of a species, yet mounting evidence suggests that epigenetic diversity could also contribute to adaptation. Elucidating the complex interplay between genetic and epigenetic variation in wild populations remains a challenge for evolutionary biologists, and the intriguing possibility that epigenetic diversity could compensate for the loss of genetic

Mediterranean high mountain grasslands are shaped by climatic stress and understanding their functional adaptations can contribute to better understanding ecosystems’ response to global change. The present work analyses the plant functional traits of high-elevation grasslands growing in Mediterranean limestone mountains to explore, at the community level, the presence of different plant strategies

Individuals within natural populations can experience very different abiotic and biotic conditions across small spatial scales owing to microtopography and other micro-environmental gradients. Ecological and evolutionary studies often ignore the effects of micro-environment on plant population and community dynamics. Here, we explore the extent to which fine-grained variation in abiotic and biotic

Populations of widely distributed species often exhibit geographic variation in functional traits in response to environmental heterogeneity. Such trait variation may be the result of different adaptive mechanisms, including genetically based differentiation, phenotypic plasticity or a combination of both. Disentangling the genetic and environmental components of trait variation may be particularly

Environmental filters affect community assembly through the functional traits of species. However, the process of community assembly remains unclear because of the complex interactions among the many biotic and abiotic factors. This study aimed to examine the community assembly process of vascular plants along gradients of elevation (45‒2500 m a.s.l.) and soil nitrogen availability. This study examined

Despite the importance of seed dispersal as a driving process behind plant community assembly, our understanding of the role of seed dispersal in plant population persistence and spread remains incomplete. As a result, our ability to predict the effects of global change on plant populations is hampered. We need to better understand the fundamental link between seed dispersal and population dynamics

Background and AimsThe distribution and genetic structure of most plant species in Britain and Ireland bear the imprint of the last ice age. These patterns were largely shaped by random processes during recolonization but, in angiosperms, whole genome duplication may also have been important. We investigate the distribution of cytotypes of Campanula rotundifolia, considering DNA variation, post-glacial

Many studies have examined the impact of dispersal on local adaptation, but much less attention has been paid to how local adaptation influences range shifts. The aim of this study was to test how local adaptation might affect climate-driven range shifts in plants, and if this might differ between plants with different life histories. Simulated range shift dynamics were compared for hypothetical annual

Conserving genetic diversity in rare and narrowly distributed endemic species is essential to maintain their evolutionary potential and minimize extinction risk under future environmental change. In this study we assess neutral and adaptive genetic structure and genetic diversity in Brasilianthus carajensis (Melastomataceae), an endemic herb from Amazonian Savannas. Using RAD sequencing we identified

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are important mutualistic microbes in soil, which have capacity to form mutualistic associations with most land plants. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi play an important role in plant invasions and their interactions with invasive plants have received increasing attention. However, the chemical mechanisms underlying the interactions of AMF and invasive plants are still

An increasing number of candidate genes related to abiotic stress tolerance are being discovered and proposed to improve the existing cultivars of the high oil-bearing crop sesame (Sesamum indicum L.). However, the in planta functional validation of these genes is remarkably lacking. In this study, we cloned a novel sesame R2-R3 MYB gene SiMYB75 which is strongly induced by drought, sodium chloride

To study the genetic structure of clonal plant populations, genotyping and genet detection using genetic markers are necessary to assign ramets to corresponding genets. Assignment is difficult as it involves setting a robust threshold of genetic distance for genet distinction as neighbouring genets in a plant population are often genetically related. Here, we used restriction site-associated DNA sequencing

Lodoicea maldivica (coco de mer) is a long-lived dioecious palm in which male and female plants are visually indistinguishable when immature, only becoming sexually dimorphic as adults, which in natural forest can take as much as 50 years. Most adult populations in the Seychelles exhibit biased sex ratios, but it is unknown whether this is due to different proportions of male and female plants being

Herkogamy, the spatial separation of sex organs in hermaphroditic plants, has been proposed as a mechanism to reduce self-pollination and the associated processes of inbreeding and gamete wastage. Longitudinal herkogamy is the most frequent type, with two subtypes: approach herkogamy (anthers below the stigma), which is associated with diverse pollinator arrays, and reverse herkogamy (anthers above

Local adaptation is assumed to occur when populations differ in a phenotypic trait or a set of traits, and such variation has a genetic basis. Here, we introduce Arabidopsis halleri and its life history as a perennial model system to study population differentiation and local adaptation. Studies on altitudinal adaptation have been conducted in two regions: Mt. Ibuki in Japan and the European Alps.

In pines, the release of seeds from serotinous cones is primarily considered a response to the high temperatures of a fire. However, the naturalization of serotinous pines in regions where fires are rare highlights the need to quantify environmental conditions that determine seed release to allow accurate prediction of dispersal and spread risk. We investigated the conditions that break cone serotiny

Gene copy number (CN) variation is known to be important in nearly every species where it has been examined. Alterations in gene CN may provide a fast way of acquiring diversity, allowing rapid adaptation under strong selective pressures, and may also be a key component of standing genetic variation within species. Cannabis sativa plants produce a distinguishing set of secondary metabolites, the cannabinoids

Leymus chinensis grassland in Northeast China provides a natural laboratory for the investigation of climate change. The response of L. chinensis to experimental warming can provide insight into its regeneration behaviour and the likely composition of future communities under warmer climate. We used MSR-2420 infrared radiators to elevate temperature and examined soil organic carbon and nitrogen and

Sea-level rise will result in increased salinization of coastal areas. Soil salinity is a major abiotic stress that reduces plant growth, yet tolerance to salinity varies across environmental conditions, habitats and species. To determine salinity tolerance of 26 common tropical tree species from Panama, we measured growth, gas exchange and mortality of 3-month-old seedlings subjected to weekly irrigation

The trade-off between leaf number and individual leaf size on current-year shoots (twigs) is crucial to light interception and thus net carbon gain. However, a theoretical basis for understanding this trade-off remains elusive. Here, we argue that this trade-off emerges directly from the relationship between annual growth in leaf and stem mass, a hypothesis that predicts that maximum individual leaf

Zygomorphic flower species tend to show lower flower size variation than actinomorphic flower species. Have these differences also brought an association in ovule and seed production that has arisen due to natural selection in these species? Flowers were collected from 29 actinomorphic and 20 zygomorphic flower species, and fruits were collected from 21 actinomorphic and 14 zygomorphic flower species

As growing seasons in the northwestern USA lengthen, on track with climate predictions, the mixed conifer forests that dominate this region will experience extended seasonal drought conditions. The year of 2015, which had the most extreme drought for the area on record, offered a potential analogue of future conditions. During this period, we measured the daily courses of water potential and gas exchange

How the mortality and growth of tree species vary with the iso-anisohydric continuum and xylem vulnerability is still being debated. We conducted a precipitation reduction experiment to create a mild drought condition in a forest in the Baotianman Mountains, China, a sub-humid region. Three main sub-canopy tree species in this region were examined. After rainfall reduction, Lindera obtusiloba showed

Apart from floral morphology and colours perceived by the human eye, ultraviolet (UV) reflectance acts as an important visual advertisement of numerous flowering plant species for pollinators. However, the effect of UV signalling on attracting pollinators of particular plant species is still insufficiently studied, especially in the Afrotropics. Therefore, we studied the pollination system of Hypoxis

The loss of species diversity and plant community structure throughout the temperate deciduous forests of North America have often been attributed to overbrowsing by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginanus). Slow species recovery following removal from browsing, or reduction in deer density, has been termed a legacy effect of past deer herbivory. However, vegetation legacy effects have also coincided

Biological invasions are a defining feature of the Anthropocene, but the factors that determine the spatially uneven distribution of alien plant species are still poorly understood. Here, we present the first global analysis of the effects of biogeographic factors, the physical environment and socio-economy on the richness of naturalized and invasive alien plants. We used generalized linear mixed-effects

Here, we present a study into the mechanisms of primary cell wall cellulose formation in grasses, using the model cereal grass Brachypodium distachyon. The exon found adjacent to the BdCESA1 glycosyltransferase QXXRW motif was targeted using Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genomes (TILLING) and sequencing candidate amplicons in multiple parallel reactions (SCAMPRing) leading to the identification

Plant invasions are prime opportunities for studying hybridization and the nature of species boundaries, but hybrids also complicate the taxonomic treatment and management of introduced taxa. In this study, we use population genomics to estimate the extent of genomic admixture and test for its association with morphology and genome size in a hybrid complex of knapweeds invasive to North America: meadow

We evaluated the ability of metabolic elicitors extracted from Pseudomonas fluorescens N21.4 to induce systemic resistance (ISR) in Arabidopsis thaliana against the pathogen Pseudomonas syringae DC3000. Metabolic elicitors were obtained from bacteria-free culture medium with n-hexane, ethyl acetate and n-butanol in three consecutive extractions. Each extract showed plant protection activity. The n-hexane

The ability to tolerate salt differs with the growth stages of rice and thus the yield components that are determined during various growth stages, are differentially affected by salt stress. In this study, we utilized chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs) from Nona Bokra, a salt-tolerant indica landrace, with the genetic background of Koshihikari, a salt-susceptible japonica variety. These

Water availability is a critical driver of population dynamics in arid zones, and plant recruitment is typically episodic in response to rainfall. Understanding species' germination thresholds is key for conservation and restoration initiatives. Thus, we investigated the role of water availability in the germination traits of keystone species in an arid ecosystem with stochastic rainfall. We measured

The distribution and abundance of plants across the world depends in part on their ability to move, which is commonly characterized by a dispersal kernel. For seeds, the total dispersal kernel (TDK) describes the combined influence of all primary, secondary and higher-order dispersal vectors on the overall dispersal kernel for a plant individual, population, species or community. Understanding the

Brassica oleracea cultivars include important vegetable and forage crops grown worldwide, whereas the wild counterpart occurs naturally on European sea cliffs. Domestication and selection processes have led to phenotypic and genetic divergence between domesticated plants and their wild ancestors that inhabit coastal areas and are exposed to saline conditions. Salinity is one of the most limiting factors

Some plant species accumulate selenium in their tissues in quantities far above soil concentrations, and experiments demonstrate that selenium can serve as a defence against herbivores and pathogens. However, selenium may also cause oxidative stress and reduce growth in plants. We measured growth, selenium accumulation and herbivory in four varieties of the selenium accumulator Brassica juncea to investigate

Herkogamy is an effective way to reduce sexual interference. However, the separation of stigma and anther potentially leads to a conflict because the pollen may be placed in a location on the pollinator different from the point of stigma contact, which can reduce pollination accuracy. Floral mechanisms aiming to resolve this conflict have seldom been explored. The floral biology of protandrous Ajuga

Bud dormancy and cold hardiness are critical adaptations for surviving winter cold stress for temperate perennial plant species. In grapevine, acquisition of cold hardiness requires dormancy induction in the early winter and careful maintenance of dormancy state throughout winter. With sufficient exposure to low, non-freezing temperatures (chilling requirement), grapevine buds transition between early

Thermal acclimation of plant respiration is highly relevant to climate projections; when included in models, it reduces the future rate of atmospheric CO2 rise. Although all living plant tissues respire, few studies have examined differences in acclimation among tissues, and leaf responses have received greater attention than stems and roots. Here, we examine the short-term temperature acclimation

Climate change is reducing the depth and duration of winter snowpack, leading to dramatic changes in the soil environment with potentially important ecological consequences. Previous experiments in the Intermountain West of North America indicated that loss of snowpack increases survival and population growth rates of the invasive annual grass Bromus tectorum; however, the underlying mechanism is unknown

Mutualistic plant-microbial functioning relies on co-adapted symbiotic partners as well as conducive environmental conditions. Choosing particular plant genotypes for domestication and subsequent cultivar selection can narrow the gene pools of crop plants to a degree that they are no longer able to benefit from microbial mutualists. Elevated mineral nutrient levels in cultivated soils also reduce the

Spatial (herkogamy) or temporal (dichogamy) separation of sex organs are mechanisms considered to restrict self-pollination and promote outcrossing. Additionally, avoidance of self-interference is proposed to be the driving force for the evolution of these mechanisms, particularly in self-incompatible species. However, species with anthers and stigmas at different levels may increase the rate of imprecise

The preservation of plant species under ex situ conditions in seed banks strongly depends on seed longevity. However, detailed knowledge on this seed ecological aspect is limited and comparative studies from central European habitats are scarce. Therefore, we investigated the seed longevity of 39 calcareous grassland species in order to assess the prospects of ex situ storage of seeds originating from

Different genetic patterns have been demonstrated for narrowly distributed taxa, many of them linking rarity to evolutionary history. Quite a few species in young genera are endemics and have several populations that present low variability, sometimes attributed to geographical isolation or dispersion processes. Assessing the genetic diversity and structure of such species may be important for protecting

Low temperature is one of the key environmental stresses that impair plant growth and significantly restricts the productivity and spatial distribution of crop plants. Gossypium thurberi, a wild diploid cotton species, has adapted to a wide range of temperatures and exhibits a better tolerance to chilling stress. Here, we compared phenotypes and physiochemical changes in G. thurberi under cold stress

As the single opportunity for plants to move, seed dispersal has an important impact on plant fitness, species distributions and patterns of biodiversity. However, models that predict dynamics such as risk of extinction, range shifts and biodiversity loss tend to rely on the mean value of parameters and rarely incorporate realistic dispersal mechanisms. By focusing on the mean population value, variation

The present study was carried out to investigate how plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) influence plant growth and uptake of boron (B) and phosphorus (P) in rapeseed (Brassica napus). Rapeseed was subjected to control, B, P and B + P treatments, either with or without B. pumilus (PGPB) inoculation, and grown in pot culture for 6 weeks. In the absence of B. pumilus, the addition of B, P or both

Global climate change is expected to affect mountain ecosystems significantly. Phenotypic plasticity, the ability of any genotype to produce a variety of phenotypes under different environmental conditions, is critical in determining the ability of species to acclimate to current climatic changes. Here, to simulate the impact of climate change, we compared the physiology of species of the genus Picea

Breeding system, sexual system, temporal variation in sex expression and herkogamy were evaluated in seven herbaceous-shrubby communities from the Gran Sabana Plateau, Venezuela. This analysis was conducted considering the life form, substrate type, succulence, carbon metabolism, nutritional relation, successional stage, pollination system specificity and endemism of plant species. Of the 348 plant

Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) seeds are myxospermous and release two layers of mucilage on imbibition. The outer layer can be extracted with water facilitating the analysis of its major constituent, polysaccharides. The composition and properties of outer mucilage have been determined for 306 natural accessions and six control genotypes to generate a data set comprising six traits measured in

Neighbouring plants can affect plant growth through altering root morphological and physiological traits, but how exactly root systems respond to neighbouring plants with varied density, determining nutrient uptake and shoot growth is poorly understood. In a pot-based experiment, rapeseed was grown alone (single rapeseed), or mixed with 3, 6, or 15 Chinese milk vetch plants. As controls, monocropped

Polyploidization of the plant genome affects the phenotype of individuals including their morphology, i.e. size and form. In autopolyploids, we expect mainly nucleotypic effects, from a number of monoploid genomes (i.e. chromosome sets) or genome size, seen from an increase in size or dimension of the polyploids compared with the diploids (or lower ploids). To identify nucleotypic effects, confounding

Bidens pilosa (Asteraceae), a noxious weed in many ecosystems worldwide, produces large amounts of heteromorphic (central and peripheral) achenes. The primary aims of the present study were to compare the morphological, dormancy/germination characteristics of dimorphic achenes. Temperatures simulating those in the natural habitat of B. pilosa were used to test for primary dormancy and germination behaviour

When climatic or environmental conditions change, plant populations must either adapt to these new conditions, or track their niche via seed dispersal. Adaptation of plants to different abiotic environments has mostly been discussed with respect to physiological and demographic parameters that allow local persistence. However, rapid modifications in response to changing environmental conditions can

Vachellia sieberiana fixes atmospheric nitrogen (N) and distributes it back into ecosystems. We hypothesize that biological nitrogen fixation in this plant species is limited by competition from the invasive shrub, Chromolaena odorata. Competition would therefore result in the legume plant switching its limited nitrogen (N) sources in phosphorus-poor soils in savannah ecosystems when resources have

Pollinators can be a limited resource and natural selection should favour differences in phenotypic characteristics to reduce competition among plants. Bats are important pollinators of many Neotropical plants, including the Bromeliaceae; however, the pre-pollination mechanisms for isolation among sympatric bat-pollinated bromeliads are unknown. Here, we studied the mechanisms for reproductive segregation

Plants mainly acquire N from the soil in the form of nitrate (NO3 -) or ammonium (NH4 +). Ammonium-based nutrition is gaining interest because it helps to avoid the environmental pollution associated with nitrate fertilization. However, in general, plants prefer NO3 - and indeed, when growing only with NH4 + they can encounter so-called ammonium stress. Since Brachypodium distachyon is a useful model

Seed dispersal by ants (myrmecochory) is an asymmetric, presumably mutualistic interaction, where a few ant species benefit many plants. Myrmecochorous plants express specialized adaptations, most notably a large elaiosome, which promote interactions with efficient seed dispersers while decreasing interactions with poor dispersers, resulting in de facto partner choice. However, because variation in