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1
Sack, Lawren, and Thomas N. Buckley. "Trait Multi-Functionality in Plant Stress Response." Integrative and Comparative Biology 60, no. 1 (December 11, 2019): 98–112. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icb/icz152.
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Abstract Plants often experience multiple stresses in a given day or season, and it is self-evident that given functional traits can provide tolerances of multiple stresses. Yet, the multiple functions of individual traits are rarely explicitly considered in ecology and evolution due to a lack of a quantitative framework. We present a theory for considering the combined importance of the several functions that a single trait can contribute to alleviating multiple stresses. We derive five inter-related general predictions: (1) that trait multifunctionality is overall highly beneficial to fitness; (2) that species possessing multifunctional traits should increase in abundance and in niche breadth; (3) that traits are typically optimized for multiple functions and thus can be far from optimal for individual functions; (4) that the relative importance of each function of a multifunctional trait depends on the environment; and (5) that traits will be often “co-opted” for additional functions during evolution and community assembly. We demonstrate how the theory can be applied quantitatively by examining the multiple functions of leaf trichomes (hairs) using heuristic model simulations, substantiating the general principles. We identify avenues for further development and applications of the theory of trait multifunctionality in ecology and evolution.
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The Plant Ontology Consortium. "The Plant Ontology™Consortium and Plant Ontologies." Comparative and Functional Genomics 3, no. 2 (2002): 137–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cfg.154.
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The goal of the Plant Ontology™Consortium is to produce structured controlled vocabularies, arranged in ontologies, that can be applied to plant-based database information even as knowledge of the biology of the relevant plant taxa (e.g. development, anatomy, morphology, genomics, proteomics) is accumulating and changing. The collaborators of the Plant Ontology™Consortium (POC) represent a number of core participant database groups. The Plant Ontology™Consortium is expanding the paradigm of the Gene Ontology™Consortium (http://www.geneontology.org). Various trait ontologies (agronomic traits, mutant phenotypes, phenotypes, traits, and QTL) and plant ontologies (plant development, anatomy [incl. morphology]) for several taxa (Arabidopsis, maize/corn/Zea mays and rice/Oryza) are under development. The products of the Plant Ontology™Consortium will be open-source.
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Seastedt, Tim. "Traits of plant invaders." Nature 459, no. 7248 (June 2009): 783–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/459783a.
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Kraft, Nathan J. B., Oscar Godoy, and Jonathan M. Levine. "Plant functional traits and the multidimensional nature of species coexistence." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, no. 3 (January 5, 2015): 797–802. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1413650112.
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Understanding the processes maintaining species diversity is a central problem in ecology, with implications for the conservation and management of ecosystems. Although biologists often assume that trait differences between competitors promote diversity, empirical evidence connecting functional traits to the niche differences that stabilize species coexistence is rare. Obtaining such evidence is critical because traits also underlie the average fitness differences driving competitive exclusion, and this complicates efforts to infer community dynamics from phenotypic patterns. We coupled field-parameterized mathematical models of competition between 102 pairs of annual plants with detailed sampling of leaf, seed, root, and whole-plant functional traits to relate phenotypic differences to stabilizing niche and average fitness differences. Single functional traits were often well correlated with average fitness differences between species, indicating that competitive dominance was associated with late phenology, deep rooting, and several other traits. In contrast, single functional traits were poorly correlated with the stabilizing niche differences that promote coexistence. Niche differences could only be described by combinations of traits, corresponding to differentiation between species in multiple ecological dimensions. In addition, several traits were associated with both fitness differences and stabilizing niche differences. These complex relationships between phenotypic differences and the dynamics of competing species argue against the simple use of single functional traits to infer community assembly processes but lay the groundwork for a theoretically justified trait-based community ecology.
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Song, Xianliang, and Tianzhen Zhang. "Quantitative trait loci controlling plant architectural traits in cotton." Plant Science 177, no. 4 (October 2009): 317–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2009.05.015.
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Jiang, Feng, and Guangze Jin. "Functional traits influence plant survival depending on environmental contexts and life stages in an old-growth temperate forest." Journal of Plant Ecology 14, no. 5 (May 20, 2021): 981–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtab049.
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Abstract Aims Functional traits are usually used to predict plant demographic rates without considering environmental contexts. However, previous studies have consistently found that traits have low explanatory power for plant demographic rates. We hypothesized that accounting for environmental contexts instead of focusing on traits alone could improve our understanding of how traits influence plant demographic rates. Methods We used generalized linear mixed-effect models to analyse the effects of functional traits (related to leaf, stem, seed and whole plant), environmental gradients (soil nutrients, water and elevation) and their interactions on the survival dynamics of 14 133 saplings and 3289 adults in a 9-ha old-growth temperate forest plot. Important Findings We found that environmental variables, neighbour crowding and traits alone (i.e. main effects) influenced plant survival. However, the effects of the latter two variables varied between saplings and adults. The trait–environment interactions influenced plant survival, such that resource conservative traits increased plant survival under harsh conditions but decreased survival under mild conditions. The elevational gradient was the most important environmental factor driving these effects in our plot. Our results support the hypothesis that functional traits influence plant survival depending on environmental contexts in local communities. These results also imply that one species with limited trait variation cannot occupy all environments, which can promote species diversity.
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Pérez-Harguindeguy, N., S. Díaz, E. Garnier, S. Lavorel, H. Poorter, P. Jaureguiberry, M. S. Bret-Harte, et al. "New handbook for standardised measurement of plant functional traits worldwide." Australian Journal of Botany 61, no. 3 (2013): 167. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/bt12225.
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Plant functional traits are the features (morphological, physiological, phenological) that represent ecological strategies and determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels and influence ecosystem properties. Variation in plant functional traits, and trait syndromes, has proven useful for tackling many important ecological questions at a range of scales, giving rise to a demand for standardised ways to measure ecologically meaningful plant traits. This line of research has been among the most fruitful avenues for understanding ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes. It also has the potential both to build a predictive set of local, regional and global relationships between plants and environment and to quantify a wide range of natural and human-driven processes, including changes in biodiversity, the impacts of species invasions, alterations in biogeochemical processes and vegetation–atmosphere interactions. The importance of these topics dictates the urgent need for more and better data, and increases the value of standardised protocols for quantifying trait variation of different species, in particular for traits with power to predict plant- and ecosystem-level processes, and for traits that can be measured relatively easily. Updated and expanded from the widely used previous version, this handbook retains the focus on clearly presented, widely applicable, step-by-step recipes, with a minimum of text on theory, and not only includes updated methods for the traits previously covered, but also introduces many new protocols for further traits. This new handbook has a better balance between whole-plant traits, leaf traits, root and stem traits and regenerative traits, and puts particular emphasis on traits important for predicting species’ effects on key ecosystem properties. We hope this new handbook becomes a standard companion in local and global efforts to learn about the responses and impacts of different plant species with respect to environmental changes in the present, past and future.
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Martin, Adam R., and Marney E. Isaac. "The leaf economics spectrum’s morning coffee: plant size-dependent changes in leaf traits and reproductive onset in a perennial tree crop." Annals of Botany 127, no. 4 (January 27, 2021): 483–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaa199.
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Abstract Background and Aims Size-dependent changes in plant traits are an important source of intraspecific trait variation. However, there are few studies that have tested if leaf trait co-variation and/or trade-offs follow a within-genotype leaf economics spectrum (LES) related to plant size and reproductive onset. To our knowledge, there are no studies on any plant species that have tested whether or not the shape of a within-genotype LES that describes how traits covary across whole plant sizes, is the same as the shape of a within-genotype LES that represents environmentally driven trait plasticity. Methods We quantified size-dependent variation in eight leaf traits in a single coffee genotype (Coffea arabica var. Caturra) in managed agroecosystems with different environmental conditions (light and fertilization treatments), and evaluated these patterns with respect to reproductive onset. We also evaluated if trait covariation along a within-genotype plant-size LES differed from a within-genotype environmental LES defined with trait data from coffee growing in different environmental conditions. Key Results Leaf economics traits related to resource acquisition – maximum photosynthetic rates (A) and mass-based leaf nitrogen (N) concentrations – declined linearly with plant size. Structural traits – leaf mass, leaf thickness, and leaf mass per unit area (LMA) – and leaf area increased with plant size beyond reproductive onset, then declined in larger plants. Three primary LES traits (mass-based A, leaf N and LMA) covaried across a within-genotype plant-size LES, with plants moving towards the ‘resource-conserving’ end of the LES as they grow larger; in coffee these patterns were nearly identical to a within-genotype environmental LES. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that a plant-size LES exists within a single genotype. Our findings indicate that in managed agroecosystems where resource availability is high the role of reproductive onset in driving within-genotype trait variability, and the strength of covariation and trade-offs among LES traits, are less pronounced compared with plants in natural systems. The consistency in trait covariation in coffee along both plant-size and environmental LES axes indicates strong constraints on leaf form and function that exist within plant genotypes.
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Christoffersen, Bradley O., Manuel Gloor, Sophie Fauset, Nikolaos M. Fyllas, David R. Galbraith, Timothy R. Baker, Bart Kruijt, et al. "Linking hydraulic traits to tropical forest function in a size-structured and trait-driven model (TFS v.1-Hydro)." Geoscientific Model Development 9, no. 11 (November 24, 2016): 4227–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-4227-2016.
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Abstract. Forest ecosystem models based on heuristic water stress functions poorly predict tropical forest response to drought partly because they do not capture the diversity of hydraulic traits (including variation in tree size) observed in tropical forests. We developed a continuous porous media approach to modeling plant hydraulics in which all parameters of the constitutive equations are biologically interpretable and measurable plant hydraulic traits (e.g., turgor loss point πtlp, bulk elastic modulus ε, hydraulic capacitance Cft, xylem hydraulic conductivity ks,max, water potential at 50 % loss of conductivity for both xylem (P50,x) and stomata (P50,gs), and the leaf : sapwood area ratio Al : As). We embedded this plant hydraulics model within a trait forest simulator (TFS) that models light environments of individual trees and their upper boundary conditions (transpiration), as well as providing a means for parameterizing variation in hydraulic traits among individuals. We synthesized literature and existing databases to parameterize all hydraulic traits as a function of stem and leaf traits, including wood density (WD), leaf mass per area (LMA), and photosynthetic capacity (Amax), and evaluated the coupled model (called TFS v.1-Hydro) predictions, against observed diurnal and seasonal variability in stem and leaf water potential as well as stand-scaled sap flux. Our hydraulic trait synthesis revealed coordination among leaf and xylem hydraulic traits and statistically significant relationships of most hydraulic traits with more easily measured plant traits. Using the most informative empirical trait–trait relationships derived from this synthesis, TFS v.1-Hydro successfully captured individual variation in leaf and stem water potential due to increasing tree size and light environment, with model representation of hydraulic architecture and plant traits exerting primary and secondary controls, respectively, on the fidelity of model predictions. The plant hydraulics model made substantial improvements to simulations of total ecosystem transpiration. Remaining uncertainties and limitations of the trait paradigm for plant hydraulics modeling are highlighted.
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Pierce, Simon, Arianna Bottinelli, Ilaria Bassani, Roberta M. Ceriani, and Bruno E. L. Cerabolini. "How well do seed production traits correlate with leaf traits, whole-plant traits and plant ecological strategies?" Plant Ecology 215, no. 11 (August 10, 2014): 1351–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11258-014-0392-1.
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Mello, Felipe N. A., Sergio Estrada-Villegas, David M. DeFilippis, and Stefan A. Schnitzer. "Can Functional Traits Explain Plant Coexistence? A Case Study with Tropical Lianas and Trees." Diversity 12, no. 10 (October 14, 2020): 397. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/d12100397.
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Organisms are adapted to their environment through a suite of anatomical, morphological, and physiological traits. These functional traits are commonly thought to determine an organism’s tolerance to environmental conditions. However, the differences in functional traits among co-occurring species, and whether trait differences mediate competition and coexistence is still poorly understood. Here we review studies comparing functional traits in two co-occurring tropical woody plant guilds, lianas and trees, to understand whether competing plant guilds differ in functional traits and how these differences may help to explain tropical woody plant coexistence. We examined 36 separate studies that compared a total of 140 different functional traits of co-occurring lianas and trees. We conducted a meta-analysis for ten of these functional traits, those that were present in at least five studies. We found that the mean trait value between lianas and trees differed significantly in four of the ten functional traits. Lianas differed from trees mainly in functional traits related to a faster resource acquisition life history strategy. However, the lack of difference in the remaining six functional traits indicates that lianas are not restricted to the fast end of the plant life–history continuum. Differences in functional traits between lianas and trees suggest these plant guilds may coexist in tropical forests by specializing in different life–history strategies, but there is still a significant overlap in the life–history strategies between these two competing guilds.
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Benoit, Amanda D., and Susan Kalisz. "Predator Effects on Plant-Pollinator Interactions, Plant Reproduction, Mating Systems, and Evolution." Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 51, no. 1 (November 2, 2020): 319–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-012120-094926.
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Plants are the foundation of the food web and therefore interact directly and indirectly with myriad organisms at higher trophic levels. They directly provide nourishment to mutualistic and antagonistic primary consumers (e.g., pollinators and herbivores), which in turn are consumed by predators. These interactions produce cascading indirect effects on plants (either trait-mediated or density-mediated). We review how predators affect plant-pollinator interactions and thus how predators indirectly affect plant reproduction, fitness, mating systems, and trait evolution. Predators can influence pollinator abundance and foraging behavior. In many cases, predators cause pollinators to visit plants less frequently and for shorter durations. This decline in visitation can lead to pollen limitation and decreased seed set. However, alternative outcomes can result due to differences in predator, pollinator, and plant functional traits as well as due to altered interaction networks with plant enemies. Furthermore, predators may indirectly affect the evolution of plant traits and mating systems.
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Pérez-Harguindeguy, N., S. Díaz, E. Garnier, S. Lavorel, H. Poorter, P. Jaureguiberry, M. S. Bret-Harte, et al. "Corrigendum to: New handbook for standardised measurement of plant functional traits worldwide." Australian Journal of Botany 64, no. 8 (2016): 715. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/bt12225_co.
Full textAbstract:
Plant functional traits are the features (morphological, physiological, phenological) that represent ecological strategies and determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels and influence ecosystem properties. Variation in plant functional traits, and trait syndromes, has proven useful for tackling many important ecological questions at a range of scales, giving rise to a demand for standardised ways to measure ecologically meaningful plant traits. This line of research has been among the most fruitful avenues for understanding ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes. It also has the potential both to build a predictive set of local, regional and global relationships between plants and environment and to quantify a wide range of natural and human-driven processes, including changes in biodiversity, the impacts of species invasions, alterations in biogeochemical processes and vegetation–atmosphere interactions. The importance of these topics dictates the urgent need for more and better data, and increases the value of standardised protocols for quantifying trait variation of different species, in particular for traits with power to predict plant- and ecosystem-level processes, and for traits that can be measured relatively easily. Updated and expanded from the widely used previous version, this handbook retains the focus on clearly presented, widely applicable, step-by-step recipes, with a minimum of text on theory, and not only includes updated methods for the traits previously covered, but also introduces many new protocols for further traits. This new handbook has a better balance between whole-plant traits, leaf traits, root and stem traits and regenerative traits, and puts particular emphasis on traits important for predicting species' effects on key ecosystem properties. We hope this new handbook becomes a standard companion in local and global efforts to learn about the responses and impacts of different plant species with respect to environmental changes in the present, past and future.
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Luby, James J., and Douglas V. Shaw. "Plant Breeders' Perspectives on Improving Yield and Quality Traits in Horticultural Food Crops." HortScience 44, no. 1 (February 2009): 20–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.21273/hortsci.44.1.20.
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Breeders of horticultural food crops are usually concerned with multiple traits related to yield and quality as well as other traits such as biotic and abiotic stresses. Yield in these crops is not solely tonnage of biomass produced in the field. Rather, it is the proportion of the crop that can be harvested and brought to market in a condition and at a price acceptable to the consumer. Quality may include flavor, color, shape, size, degree of damage, nutrient levels, and traits that permit greater perceived food safety or environmental sustainability. Some traits may exhibit phenotypic associations. Traits with unfavorable associations will be of concern to the breeder if the cause is unfavorably correlated genetic effects, especially those resulting from pleiotropy. Several multiple trait selection schemes have been developed, including independent culling levels, tandem selection, and index selection. These schemes can result in improvement even for traits with unfavorable associations. However, the breeder must have a strong rationale for each trait addressed in a breeding program because each additional trait necessitates larger breeding populations and more resources. Thus, the breeder's first challenge for each crop is to determine which traits are most important and which issues are most amenable to a breeding solution.
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Henn, Jonathan J., and Ellen I. Damschen. "Plant age affects intraspecific variation in functional traits." Plant Ecology 222, no. 6 (April 12, 2021): 669–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11258-021-01136-2.
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AbstractFunctional traits are often used to examine ecological patterns and processes. Ontogeny—changes that occur over time as the result of development—generates variation in traits within individual organisms. We aimed to quantify the role of ontogeny in structuring functional trait variation across a range of co-existing herbaceous perennial species and hypothesized that ontogenetic variation in traits would be greater in younger vs. older plants. We grew eight herbaceous perennial forb species common in tallgrass prairies from seed in a greenhouse in Madison, Wisconsin, USA to determine how and when time-related variation in functional traits is large relative to other sources of variation, such as differences between leaves and species. We destructively measured common functional traits on four individuals of each species every two weeks for 19 weeks, including leaf mass fraction, root mass fraction, stem mass fraction, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, and leaf area. We found that most functional traits indeed change through time, that the direction of many changes are consistent between species but the magnitude of change is species specific, and most time-related variation occurred earlier in development. These results emphasize the importance of considering sampling timing and differences between young and old plants when measuring functional traits. Our results suggest that ontogenetic intraspecific variation can be substantial, especially early in life. It may be problematic to use traits measured from mature plants to interpret the importance of processes that occur at earlier life stages or vice versa; using seedling traits to understand adult plant responses may also be inappropriate.
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Bortyanuy, I. O. "PLANT GROWTH-PROMOTING TRAITS OF ANTARCTIC ENDOPHYTIC BACTERIA." Biotechnologia Acta 15, no. 4 (August 31, 2022): 5–7. http://dx.doi.org/10.15407/biotech15.04.005.
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Successful colonization of Antarctic lands by vascular plants Deschampsia antarctica and Colobanthus quitensis and their adaptation to stressful environments is associated not only with climate change but also with the functioning of microbial groups of phylo- and endosphere of these plants. The aim of our study was to screen plant growth-promoting traits in endophytic bacteria of antarctic vascular plants. Materials and methods. We have studied 8 bacterial cultures isolated from D. antarctica collected during the 25th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition (January-April 2020) along the Western part of the Antarctic Peninsula. Overnight liquid cultures were obtained on Nutrient Broth medium (HiMedia, Ltd.) in a shaking incubator (26 ℃, 160 rpm). Bacterial isolates were grown on Ashby's combined-nitrogen-free medium with sucrose. Drop collapse assay for cyclic lipopeptide production (CLP), motility assay, exoprotease production and phosphate solubilizing ability were performed using generally accepted methods. Results. All studied isolates have shown plant growth-promoting traits. The most abundant were nitrogen-fixing activity and motility. Both these play important role in plant colonization and promoting the growth of plants in harsh environments. The evidences of CLP were shown by two strains only. There was no notice of phosphate solubilizing ability and exoprotease production. Conclusions. Endophytic bacteria of antarctic vascular plants could support the growth and nutrition needs of the plants.
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Wigley, B. J., T. Charles-Dominique, G. P. Hempson, N. Stevens, M. te Beest, S. Archibald, W. J. Bond, et al. "Corrigendum to: A handbook for the standardised sampling of plant functional traits in disturbance-prone ecosystems, with a focus on open ecosystems." Australian Journal of Botany 69, no. 2 (2021): 110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/bt20048_co.
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Plant functional traits provide a valuable tool to improve our understanding of ecological processes at a range of scales. Previous handbooks on plant functional traits have highlighted the importance of standardising measurements of traits to improve our understanding of ecological and evolutionary processes. In open ecosystems (i.e. grasslands, savannas, open woodlands and shrublands), traits related to disturbance (e.g. herbivory, drought, and fire) play a central role in explaining species performance and distributions and are the focus of this handbook. We provide brief descriptions of 34 traits and list important environmental filters and their relevance, provide detailed sampling methodologies and outline potential pitfalls for each trait. We have grouped traits according to plant functional type (grasses, forbs and woody plants) and, because demographic stages may experience different selective pressures, we have separated traits according to the different plant life stages (seedlings saplings and adults). We have attempted to not include traits that have been covered in previous handbooks except for where updates or additional information was considered beneficial.
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Wigley, B. J., T. Charles-Dominique, G. P. Hempson, N. Stevens, M. TeBeest, S. Archibald, W. J. Bond, et al. "A handbook for the standardised sampling of plant functional traits in disturbance-prone ecosystems, with a focus on open ecosystems." Australian Journal of Botany 68, no. 8 (2020): 473. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/bt20048.
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Plant functional traits provide a valuable tool to improve our understanding of ecological processes at a range of scales. Previous handbooks on plant functional traits have highlighted the importance of standardising measurements of traits to improve our understanding of ecological and evolutionary processes. In open ecosystems (i.e. grasslands, savannas, open woodlands and shrublands), traits related to disturbance (e.g. herbivory, drought, and fire) play a central role in explaining species performance and distributions and are the focus of this handbook. We provide brief descriptions of 34 traits and list important environmental filters and their relevance, provide detailed sampling methodologies and outline potential pitfalls for each trait. We have grouped traits according to plant functional type (grasses, forbs and woody plants) and, because demographic stages may experience different selective pressures, we have separated traits according to the different plant life stages (seedlings saplings and adults). We have attempted to not include traits that have been covered in previous handbooks except for where updates or additional information was considered beneficial.
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Smith, Ellen A., Emily M. Holden, Charlotte Brown, and James F. Cahill Jr. "Disturbance has lasting effects on functional traits and diversity of grassland plant communities." PeerJ 10 (March 25, 2022): e13179. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13179.
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Background Localized disturbances within grasslands alter biological properties and may shift species composition. For example, rare species in established communities may become dominant in successional communities if they exhibit traits well-suited to disturbance conditions. Although the idea that plant species exhibit different trait ‘strategies’ is well established, it is unclear how ecological selection for specific traits may change as a function of disturbance. Further, there is little data available testing whether disturbances select for single trait-characters within communities (homogenization), or allow multiple trait-types to persist (diversification). We investigated how (a) traits and (b) functional diversity of post-disturbance gap communities compared to those in adjacent undisturbed grasslands, and (c) if altered functional diversity resulted in the homogenization or diversification of functional traits. Methods Here we emulate the impacts of an extreme disturbance in a native grassland site. We measured plant community composition of twelve paired 50 × 50 cm plots (24 total) in Alberta, Canada. Each pair consisted of one undisturbed plot and one which had all plants terminated 2 years prior. We used species abundances and a local trait database to calculate community weighted means for maximum height, specific leaf area, specific root length, leaf nitrogen percent, and root nitrogen percent. To test the impacts of disturbance on community functional traits, we calculated functional diversity measures and compared them between disturbed and undisturbed communities. Results Within 2 years, species richness and evenness in disturbed communities had recovered and was equivalent to undisturbed communities. However, disturbed and undisturbed communities had distinct community compositions, resulting in lower functional divergence in disturbed plots. Further, disturbance was linked to increases in community-weighted mean trait values for resource-acquisitive traits, such as specific leaf area, and leaf and root nitrogen. Discussion Disturbance had lasting effects on the functional traits and diversity of communities, despite traditional biodiversity measures such as richness and evenness recovering within 2 years. The trait space of gap communities shifted compared to undisturbed communities such that gap communities were dominated by traits enhancing resource uptake and growth rates. Overall, these results show that short-term disturbance fundamentally changes the functional character of early-successional communities, even if they superficially appear recovered.
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Ehlers, Bodil K., Christian F. Damgaard, and Fabien Laroche. "Intraspecific genetic variation and species coexistence in plant communities." Biology Letters 12, no. 1 (January 2016): 20150853. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0853.
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Many studies report that intraspecific genetic variation in plants can affect community composition and coexistence. However, less is known about which traits are responsible and the mechanisms by which variation in these traits affect the associated community. Focusing on plant–plant interactions, we review empirical studies exemplifying how intraspecific genetic variation in functional traits impacts plant coexistence. Intraspecific variation in chemical and architectural traits promotes species coexistence, by both increasing habitat heterogeneity and altering competitive hierarchies. Decomposing species interactions into interactions between genotypes shows that genotype × genotype interactions are often intransitive. The outcome of plant–plant interactions varies with local adaptation to the environment and with dominant neighbour genotypes, and some plants can recognize the genetic identity of neighbour plants if they have a common history of coexistence. Taken together, this reveals a very dynamic nature of coexistence. We outline how more traits mediating plant–plant interactions may be identified, and how future studies could use population genetic surveys of genotype distribution in nature and methods from trait-based ecology to better quantify the impact of intraspecific genetic variation on plant coexistence.
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Rowland, Lisa J., Elizabeth L. Ogden, and Bryan T. Vinyard. "Phenotypic Evaluation of a Hybrid Diploid Blueberry Population for Plant Development and Fruit Quality Traits." Agronomy 10, no. 8 (July 24, 2020): 1067. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10081067.
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A diploid blueberry mapping population, used previously to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) for chilling requirement and cold hardiness, was evaluated for several plant development and fruit quality traits. Specifically, the population was phenotyped in a greenhouse for timing of various stages of flower bud, leaf bud and fruit development and for fruit quality traits including weight, diameter, color, scar, firmness, flavor and soluble solids. Phenotypic data was analyzed statistically by analysis of variance, correlation tests, to examine associations of traits, and heritability. Results indicated that the traits were segregating and most were distributed normally in the population. Many of the development traits were correlated, and timing of shoot expansion, early bloom and full bloom was also correlated with the previously evaluated trait of chilling requirement. Some correlations were found among the fruit quality traits as well. For example, weight was highly correlated with diameter, and subjectively measured firmness was moderately correlated with one of the objectively measured firmness traits. In addition, most of the traits showed significant variation across genotypes and across years, and most had moderate to high heritability. Therefore, we conclude that the diploid population should be useful for identifying QTL for many of these traits.
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Purwati, R. D., T. D. A. Anggraeni, and M. Machfud. "Genotype by yield*trait biplot analysis to evaluate Jatropha curcas genotypes based on multiple traits." IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 974, no. 1 (January 1, 2022): 012013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/974/1/012013.
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Abstract Jatropha hybridization conducted in ISFCRI has resulted in genotypes with various agronomic traits. The biplot analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between agronomic and yield trait, the genotype by trait (GT), and genotype by yield*trait (GYT). Ten genotypes were planted in Pasirian, Lumajang, East Java from 2018 to 2019. Ten parameters were observed namely: plant height, harvest time, number of branches per plant (primary, secondary and tertiary branches), inflorescence number per plant, fruit cluster number per plant, fruit number per plant, 100 seed weight, and seed weight per plant. Based on GT biplot and Pearson Correlation, there was a strong positive correlation between yield and plant height, tertiary branch, fruit cluster, inflorescence number, and seed weight. The GYT biplot showed that genotype No. 6 had the best performance in combining yield and primary branch, secondary branch, and inflorescent number. The genotype No. 10 had the largest values in combining yield with the seven other traits. In this study, the GYT biplot approach can be used to identify the best genotypes in correlation between yield with other traits. Therefore, this approach can be applied to overcome the problem of genotypes selection based on several traits, in the Jatropha breeding program.
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Friesen, Maren L., Stephanie S. Porter, Scott C. Stark, Eric J. von Wettberg, Joel L. Sachs, and Esperanza Martinez-Romero. "Microbially Mediated Plant Functional Traits." Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 42, no. 1 (December 2011): 23–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-102710-145039.
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Woodward, F. I. "Plant ecology-trends and traits." Trends in Ecology & Evolution 2, no. 8 (August 1987): 252–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0169-5347(87)90010-3.
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Howe, Glenn T., Sally N. Aitken, David B. Neale, Kathleen D. Jermstad, Nicholas C. Wheeler, and Tony HH Chen. "From genotype to phenotype: unraveling the complexities of cold adaptation in forest trees." Canadian Journal of Botany 81, no. 12 (December 1, 2003): 1247–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b03-141.
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Adaptation to winter cold in temperate and boreal trees involves complex genetic, physiological, and developmental processes. Genecological studies demonstrate the existence of steep genetic clines for cold adaptation traits in relation to environmental (mostly temperature related) gradients. Population differentiation is generally stronger for cold adaptation traits than for other quantitative traits and allozymes. Therefore, these traits appear to be under strong natural selection. Nonetheless, high levels of genetic variation persist within populations. The genetic control of cold adaptation traits ranges from weak to strong, with phenological traits having the highest heritabilities. Within-population genetic correlations among traits range from negligible to moderate. Generally, bud phenology and cold hardiness in the fall are genetically uncorrelated with bud phenology and cold hardiness in the spring. Analyses of quantitative trait loci indicate that cold adaptation traits are mostly controlled by multiple genes with small effects and that quantitative trait loci × environment interactions are common. Given this inherent complexity, we suggest that future research should focus on identifying and developing markers for cold adaptation candidate genes, then using multilocus, multi allelic analytical techniques to uncover the relationships between genotype and phenotype at both the individual and population levels. Ultimately, these methods may be useful for predicting the performance of genotypes in breeding programs and for better understanding the evolutionary ecology of forest trees.Key words: association genetics, cold hardiness, dormancy, genecology, bud phenology, quantitative trait loci.
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Koussoroplis, Apostolos-Manuel, Toni Klauschies, Sylvain Pincebourde, David Giron, and Alexander Wacker. "A comment on “Variability in plant nutrients reduces insect herbivore performance”." Rethinking Ecology 4 (May 10, 2019): 79–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/rethinkingecology.4.32252.
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In their recent contribution, Wetzel et al. [Wetzel et al. (2016) Variability in plant nutrients reduces insect herbivore performance. Nature 539: 425-427] predict that variance in the plant nutrient level reduces herbivore performance via the nonlinear averaging effect (named Jensen’s effect by the authors) while variance in the defense level does not. We argue that the study likely underestimates the potential of plant defenses’ variance to cause Jensen’s effects for two reasons. First, this conclusion is based on the finding that the average Jensen’s effect of various defense traits on various herbivores is zero which does not imply that the Jensen’s effect of specific defense traits on specific herbivores is null, just that the effects balance each other globally. Second, the study neglects the nonlinearity effects that may arise from the synergy between nutritive and defense traits or between co-occurring defenses on herbivore performance. Covariance between interacting plant defense traits, or between plant nutritive and defense traits, can affect performance differently than would nutritive or single plant defense variance alone. Overlooking the interactive effects of plant traits and the traits’ covariance could impair the assessment of the true role of plant trait variability on herbivore populations in natural settings.
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Ragul, S., N. Manivannan, and A. Mahalingam. "Assessment of variability and association for seed yield and yield attributing traits among the interspecific derivatives of greengram x blackgram cross." Journal of Applied and Natural Science 13, SI (July 19, 2021): 1–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.31018/jans.v13isi.2770.
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The present investigation was carried out with 24 progenies in F4 generation of interspecific cross derivatives of Vigna radiata cv. VBN(Gg)2 x Vigna mungo cv. Mash 114 to study the variability and association among the yield and the yield component traits. A set of 24 F4 progenies from the interspecific cross between greengram (VBN(Gg)2) and blackgram (Mash 114) formed the basic genetic material for the present investigation. Variability studies recorded high Phenotypic Coefficient of Variation (PCV) and Genotypic Coefficient of Variation (GCV) for the traits viz., number of branches/ plant, number of clusters/ plant, number of pods/ plant and seed yield /plant. High heritability (h2) along with high genetic advance as per cent of mean (GAM) were recorded for the traits, plant height, number of clusters/ plant, number of pods/ plant and seed yield/ plant. Association studies revealed that the trait number of pods/ plant alone recorded high direct positive effect on seed yield/ plant. The results indicated that high magnitude of variability was present among the interspecific progenies for these traits. The high heritability and genetic advance might be due to presence of additive gene action. Hence selection based on these traits might be effective for genetic improvement among the interspecific progenies of Vigna radiata x Vigna mungo. The study indicates that the trait, number of pods / plant should be given due importance in selection programme for seed yield improvement in the interspecific progenies of greengram and blackgram.
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Huang, Guanjun, Qing Fang, Shaobing Peng, and Yong Li. "Genotypic variation of plant biomass under nitrogen deficiency is positively correlated with conservative economic traits in wheat." Journal of Experimental Botany 73, no. 7 (December 13, 2021): 2175–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erab546.
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Abstract Plant functional traits, including leaf and root economic traits, are important for understanding the composition and function of ecosystems. However, plant functional traits of crop species and the relationships between them, and their responses to environmental variations are not fully understood. In the present study, the traits in the leaf and root economics spectrum (LES and RES) and plant biomass were investigated in 14 wheat genotypes grown with sufficient or limited nitrogen (N) supply. We found that N had significant impacts on the LES and RES traits and on the relationships among them. Our results generally supported the hypothesized LES, but did not support the RES or plant economics spectrum concept among wheat plants regardless of N treatment. More importantly, we found that more conservative leaf and root economic traits are beneficial for shoot biomass accumulation in wheat plants grown with limited N supply, and for the improvement in the tolerance of wheat to N stress. The data presented suggest that growth conditions should be accounted for when studying trait-to-trait relationships, and that more conservative resource use strategies could be used as promising targets for wheat breeding programs with limited N input.
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Ficken, Cari D., and Rebecca C. Rooney. "Linking plant conservatism scores to plant functional traits." Ecological Indicators 115 (August 2020): 106376. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106376.
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Yang, Yanzheng, Qiuan Zhu, Changhui Peng, Han Wang, and Huai Chen. "From plant functional types to plant functional traits." Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment 39, no. 4 (May 7, 2015): 514–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0309133315582018.
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Dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) typically track the material and energy cycles in ecosystems with finite plant functional types (PFTs). Increasingly, the community ecology and modelling studies recognize that current PFT scheme is not sufficient for simulating ecological processes. Recent advances in the study of plant functional traits (FTs) in community ecology provide a novel and feasible approach for the improvement of PFT-based DGVMs. This paper reviews the development of current DGVMs over recent decades. After characterizing the advantages and disadvantages of the PFT-based scheme, it summarizes trait-based theories and discusses the possibility of incorporating FTs into DGVMs. More importantly, this paper summarizes three strategies for constructing next-generation DGVMs with FTs. Finally, the method’s limitations, current challenges and future research directions for FT theory are discussed for FT theory. We strongly recommend the inclusion of several FTs, namely specific leaf area (SLA), leaf nitrogen content (LNC), carbon isotope composition of leaves (Leaf δ13C), the ratio between leaf-internal and ambient mole fractions of CO2 (Leaf Ci/Ca), seed mass and plant height. These are identified as the most important in constructing DGVMs based on FTs, which are also recognized as important ecological strategies for plants. The integration of FTs into dynamic vegetation models is a critical step towards improving the results of DGVM simulations; communication and cooperation among ecologists and modellers is equally important for the development of the next generation of DGVMs.
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Naharudin, Nazatul Shima, Maizura Abu Sin, and Ghizan Saleh. "Genetic Variance and Correlation of Forage Yield and Quality Traits in Tropically Adapted Maize." Sains Malaysiana 50, no. 1 (January 31, 2021): 45–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2021-5001-05.
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Two F2 populations segregating for biomass yield and forage quality traits were developed from two separate crosses of tropically adapted maize inbred lines. The parental, F1 and F2 generations of both crosses were evaluated to estimate broad sense heritability, genetic advance and correlations for these traits to suggest the best traits as selection criteria towards breeding forage maize with high yield and quality.In Cross 1, biomass yield trait with the highest broad-sense heritability was plant height (70.03%), whereas forage quality trait with the highest heritability estimate was crude protein content (66.60%). Heritability estimates in Cross 2 were high for all biomass yield traits and forage quality traits (>50% for all traits). Indigestible cell wall component represented by acid detergent lignin content was found to be highly heritable in both populations. High genetic advance as percent of mean were found for fresh and dry plant yield as well as for lignin content in both populations. Correlation analysis on all traits showed that all biomass yield components were significantly correlated. All traits related to cell wall content were positively correlated and acid detergent lignin was positively correlated with dry plant yield. Traits with high to moderate heritability and high predicted genetic advance, namely plant height, fresh plant yield and protein content can be used as selection criteria to improve maize biomass yield and nutritive quality for forage utilization. Selecting for higher biomass yield would also result in selecting individuals with higher lignin content as shown by the correlation analysis.
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Iturrate-Garcia, Maitane, Monique M. P. D. Heijmans, J. Hans C. Cornelissen, Fritz H. Schweingruber, Pascal A. Niklaus, and Gabriela Schaepman-Strub. "Plant trait response of tundra shrubs to permafrost thaw and nutrient addition." Biogeosciences 17, no. 20 (October 18, 2020): 4981–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4981-2020.
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Abstract. Plant traits reflect growth strategies and trade-offs in response to environmental conditions. Because of climate warming, plant traits might change, altering ecosystem functions and vegetation–climate interactions. Despite important feedbacks of plant trait changes in tundra ecosystems with regional climate, with a key role for shrubs, information on responses of shrub functional traits is limited. Here, we investigate the effects of experimentally increased permafrost thaw depth and (possibly thaw-associated) soil nutrient availability on plant functional traits and strategies of Arctic shrubs in northeastern Siberia. We hypothesize that shrubs will generally shift their strategy from efficient conservation to faster acquisition of resources through adaptation of leaf and stem traits in a coordinated whole-plant fashion. To test this hypothesis, we ran a 4 year permafrost thaw and nutrient fertilization experiment with a fully factorial block design and six treatment combinations – permafrost thaw (control, unheated cable, heated cable) × fertilization (no nutrient addition, nutrient addition). We measured 10 leaf and stem traits related to growth, defence and the resource economics spectrum in four shrub species (Betula nana, Salix pulchra, Ledum palustre and Vaccinium vitis-idaea), which were sampled in the experimental plots. The plant trait data were statistically analysed using linear mixed-effect models and principal component analysis (PCA). The response to increased permafrost thaw was not significant for most shrub traits. However, all shrubs responded to the fertilization treatment, despite decreased thaw depth and soil temperature in fertilized plots. Shrubs tended to grow taller but did not increase their stem density or bark thickness. We found a similar coordinated trait response for all four species at leaf and plant level; i.e. they shifted from a conservative towards a more acquisitive resource economy strategy upon fertilization. In accordance, results point towards a lower investment into defence mechanisms, and hence increased shrub vulnerability to herbivory and climate extremes. Compared to biomass and height only, detailed data involving individual plant organ traits such as leaf area and nutrient contents or stem water content can contribute to a better mechanistic understanding of feedbacks between shrub growth strategies, permafrost thaw and carbon and energy fluxes. In combination with observational data, these experimental tundra trait data allow for a more realistic representation of tundra shrubs in dynamic vegetation models and robust prediction of ecosystem functions and related climate–vegetation–permafrost feedbacks.
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Uddin, Md Shalim, Masum Billah, Rozina Afroz, Sajia Rahman, Nasrin Jahan, Md Golam Hossain, Shamim Ara Bagum, et al. "Evaluation of 130 Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Genotypes for Future Breeding Program Based on Qualitative and Quantitative Traits, and Various Genetic Parameters." Horticulturae 7, no. 10 (October 8, 2021): 376. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7100376.
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Eggplant is an essential widespread year-round fruit vegetable. This study was conducted using 130 local germplasm of brinjal to select diverse parents based on the multiple traits selection index for the future breeding program. This selection was performed focusing on 14 qualitative and 10 quantitative traits variation and genetic parameters namely, phenotypic and genotypic variance (PV and GV) and genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation (GCV and PCV), broad-sense heritability (hBS), genetic advance, traits association, genotype by trait biplot (G × T), heatmap analysis and multi-trait index based on factor analysis and genotype-ideotype distance (MGIDI). Descriptive statistics and analysis of variance revealed a wide range of variability for morpho-physiological traits. Estimated hBS for all the measured traits ranged from 10.6% to 93%, indicating that all the traits were highly inheritable. Genetic variances were low to high for most morpho-physiological traits, indicating complex genetic architecture. Yield per plant was significantly correlated with fruit diameter, fruits per plant, percent fruits infestation by brinjal shoot and fruit borer, and fruit weight traits indicating that direct selection based on fruit number and fruit weight might be sufficient for improvement of other traits. The first two principal components (PCs) explained about 81.27% of the total variation among lines for 38 brinjal morpho-physiological traits. Genotype by trait (G × T) biplot revealed superior genotypes with combinations of favorable traits. The average genetic distance was 3.53, ranging from 0.25 to 20.01, indicating high levels of variability among the germplasm. The heat map was also used to know the relationship matrix among all the brinjal genotypes. MGIDI is an appropriate method of selection based on multiple trait information. Based on the fourteen qualitative and ten quantitative traits and evaluation of various genetic parameters, the germplasm G80, G54, G66, and G120 might be considered as best parents for the future breeding program for eggplant improvement.
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Poyatos, Rafael, Oliver Sus, Llorenç Badiella, Maurizio Mencuccini, and Jordi Martínez-Vilalta. "Gap-filling a spatially explicit plant trait database: comparing imputation methods and different levels of environmental information." Biogeosciences 15, no. 9 (May 4, 2018): 2601–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2601-2018.
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Abstract. The ubiquity of missing data in plant trait databases may hinder trait-based analyses of ecological patterns and processes. Spatially explicit datasets with information on intraspecific trait variability are rare but offer great promise in improving our understanding of functional biogeography. At the same time, they offer specific challenges in terms of data imputation. Here we compare statistical imputation approaches, using varying levels of environmental information, for five plant traits (leaf biomass to sapwood area ratio, leaf nitrogen content, maximum tree height, leaf mass per area and wood density) in a spatially explicit plant trait dataset of temperate and Mediterranean tree species (Ecological and Forest Inventory of Catalonia, IEFC, dataset for Catalonia, north-east Iberian Peninsula, 31 900 km2). We simulated gaps at different missingness levels (10–80 %) in a complete trait matrix, and we used overall trait means, species means, k nearest neighbours (kNN), ordinary and regression kriging, and multivariate imputation using chained equations (MICE) to impute missing trait values. We assessed these methods in terms of their accuracy and of their ability to preserve trait distributions, multi-trait correlation structure and bivariate trait relationships. The relatively good performance of mean and species mean imputations in terms of accuracy masked a poor representation of trait distributions and multivariate trait structure. Species identity improved MICE imputations for all traits, whereas forest structure and topography improved imputations for some traits. No method performed best consistently for the five studied traits, but, considering all traits and performance metrics, MICE informed by relevant ecological variables gave the best results. However, at higher missingness (> 30 %), species mean imputations and regression kriging tended to outperform MICE for some traits. MICE informed by relevant ecological variables allowed us to fill the gaps in the IEFC incomplete dataset (5495 plots) and quantify imputation uncertainty. Resulting spatial patterns of the studied traits in Catalan forests were broadly similar when using species means, regression kriging or the best-performing MICE application, but some important discrepancies were observed at the local level. Our results highlight the need to assess imputation quality beyond just imputation accuracy and show that including environmental information in statistical imputation approaches yields more plausible imputations in spatially explicit plant trait datasets.
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Yang, Yanzheng, Le Kang, Jun Zhao, Ning Qi, Ruonan Li, Zhongming Wen, Jalal Kassout, Changhui Peng, Guanghui Lin, and Hua Zheng. "Quantifying Leaf Trait Covariations and Their Relationships with Plant Adaptation Strategies along an Aridity Gradient." Biology 10, no. 10 (October 19, 2021): 1066. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology10101066.
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A trait-based approach is an effective way to quantify plant adaptation strategies in response to changing environments. Single trait variations have been well depicted before; however, multi-trait covariations and their roles in shaping plant adaptation strategies along aridity gradients remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to reveal multi-trait covariation characteristics, their controls and their relevance to plant adaptation strategies. Using eight relevant plant functional traits and multivariate statistical approaches, we found the following: (1) the eight studied traits show evident covariation characteristics and could be grouped into four functional dimensions linked to plant strategies, namely energy balance, resource acquisition, resource investment and water use efficiency; (2) leaf area (LA) together with traits related to the leaf economic spectrum, including leaf nitrogen content per area (Narea), leaf nitrogen per mass (Nmass) and leaf dry mass per area (LMA), covaried along the aridity gradient (represented by the moisture index, MI) and dominated the trait–environmental change axis; (3) together, climate, soil and family can explain 50.4% of trait covariations; thus, vegetation succession along the aridity gradient cannot be neglected in trait covariations. Our findings provide novel perspectives toward a better understanding of plant adaptations to arid conditions and serve as a reference for vegetation restoration and management programs in arid regions.
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Ohlert, Timothy, Kaitlin Kimmel, Meghan Avolio, Cynthia Chang, Elisabeth Forrestel, Benjamin Gerstner, Sarah E. Hobbie, Kimberly Komastu, Peter Reich, and Kenneth Whitney. "Exploring the impact of trait number and type on functional diversity metrics in real-world ecosystems." PLOS ONE 17, no. 8 (August 25, 2022): e0272791. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272791.
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The use of trait-based approaches to understand ecological communities has increased in the past two decades because of their promise to preserve more information about community structure than taxonomic methods and their potential to connect community responses to subsequent effects of ecosystem functioning. Though trait-based approaches are a powerful tool for describing ecological communities, many important properties of commonly-used trait metrics remain unexamined. Previous work in studies that simulate communities and trait distributions show consistent sensitivity of functional richness and evenness measures to the number of traits used to calculate them, but these relationships have yet to be studied in actual plant communities with a realistic distribution of trait values, ecologically meaningful covariation of traits, and a realistic number of traits available for analysis. Therefore, we propose to test how the number of traits used and the correlation between traits used in the calculation of functional diversity indices impacts the magnitude of eight functional diversity metrics in real plant communities. We will use trait data from three grassland plant communities in the US to assess the generality of our findings across ecosystems and experiments. We will determine how eight functional diversity metrics (functional richness, functional evenness, functional divergence, functional dispersion, kernel density estimation (KDE) richness, KDE evenness, KDE dispersion, Rao’s Q) differ based on the number of traits used in the metric calculation and on the correlation of traits when holding the number of traits constant. Without a firm understanding of how a scientist’s choices impact these metric, it will be difficult to compare results among studies with different metric parametrization and thus, limit robust conclusions about functional composition of communities across systems.
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Zhang, Ningyi, Arian van Westreenen, Niels P. R. Anten, Jochem B. Evers, and Leo F. M. Marcelis. "Disentangling the effects of photosynthetically active radiation and red to far-red ratio on plant photosynthesis under canopy shading: a simulation study using a functional–structural plant model." Annals of Botany 126, no. 4 (December 3, 2019): 635–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcz197.
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Abstract Background and Aims Shading by an overhead canopy (i.e. canopy shading) entails simultaneous changes in both photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and red to far-red ratio (R:FR). As plant responses to PAR (e.g. changes in leaf photosynthesis) are different from responses to R:FR (e.g. changes in plant architecture), and these responses occur at both organ and plant levels, understanding plant photosynthesis responses to canopy shading needs separate analysis of responses to reductions in PAR and R:FR at different levels. Methods In a glasshouse experiment we subjected plants of woody perennial rose (Rosa hybrida) to different light treatments, and so separately quantified the effects of reductions in PAR and R:FR on leaf photosynthetic traits and plant architectural traits. Using a functional–structural plant model, we separately quantified the effects of responses in these traits on plant photosynthesis, and evaluated the relative importance of changes of individual traits for plant photosynthesis under mild and heavy shading caused by virtual overhead canopies. Key Results Model simulations showed that the individual trait responses to canopy shading could have positive and negative effects on plant photosynthesis. Under mild canopy shading, trait responses to reduced R:FR on photosynthesis were generally negative and with a larger magnitude than effects of responses to reduced PAR. Conversely, under heavy canopy shading, the positive effects of trait responses to reduced PAR became dominant. The combined effects of low-R:FR responses and low-PAR responses on plant photosynthesis were not equal to the sum of the separate effects, indicating interactions between individual trait responses. Conclusions Our simulation results indicate that under canopy shading, the relative importance of plant responses to PAR and R:FR for plant photosynthesis changes with shade levels. This suggests that the adaptive significance of plant plasticity responses to one shading factor depends on plant responses to the other.
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Firn, Jennifer, Huong Nguyen, Martin Schütz, and Anita C. Risch. "Leaf trait variability between and within subalpine grassland species differs depending on site conditions and herbivory." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 286, no. 1907 (July 24, 2019): 20190429. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0429.
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Plant traits are commonly used to predict ecosystem-level processes, but the validity of such predictions is dependent on the assumption that trait variability between species is greater than trait variability within a species—the robustness assumption. Here, we compare leaf trait intraspecific and interspecific variability depending on geographical differences between sites and 5 years of experimental herbivore exclusion in two vegetation types of subalpine grasslands in Switzerland. Four leaf traits were measured from eight herbaceous species common to all 18 sites. Intraspecific trait variability differed significantly depending on site and herbivory. However, the amount and structure of variability depended on the trait measured and whether considering leaf traits separately or multiple leaf traits simultaneously. Leaf phosphorus concentration showed the highest intraspecific variability, while specific leaf area showed the highest interspecific variability and displayed intraspecific variability only in response to herbivore exclusion. Species identity based on multiple traits was not predictable. We find intraspecific variability is an essential consideration when using plant functional traits as a common currency not just species mean traits. This is particularly true for leaf nutrient concentrations, which showed high intraspecific variability in response to site differences and herbivore exclusion, a finding which suggests that the robustness assumption does not always hold.
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Rameeh, Valiollah. "Heterobeltiosis and interrelationship of some of important quantitative traits in oilseed rape genotypes." Open Agriculture 4, no. 1 (October 21, 2019): 591–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/opag-2019-0059.
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AbstractHalf diallel crosses of eight spring genotypes of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) were considered to evaluate heterobeltiosis effects of plant height, yield component characters, seed yield and harvest index. Significant mean squares of general and specific combining abilities (GCA and SCA) were determined for all the traits except 1000-seed weight demonstrating prominence of additive and non additive genetic effects for the mentioned traits. Narrow-sense heritability estimates were high for siliquae on main raceme and 1000-seed weight representing the major importance of additive genetic effects for the characters. Most of the crosses with significant positive high parent heterosis for seed yield had also significant heterotic effects for siliquae per plant; therefore, this trait can be considered as indirect selection criterion for enhancing seed yield. Seed yield was significantly correlated with the traits including plant height, siliquae on main raceme and siliquae per plant based on mean performances of the traits and this result was confirmed with correlations based on heterobeltiosis. The crosses including L41×LF2 and L31×L401 with highly significant heterobeltiosis estimates of grain yield were superior combinations for breeding this trait. which proved good specific combiners for most of the traits.
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Reuzeau, Christophe, Valerie Frankard, Yves Hatzfeld, Anabel Sanz, Wim Van Camp, Pierre Lejeune, Chris De Wilde, et al. "Traitmill™: a functional genomics platform for the phenotypic analysis of cereals." Plant Genetic Resources 4, no. 1 (April 2006): 20–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/pgr2005104.
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The improvement of quality and quantitative traits in industrial crops is among the most important goals in plant breeding. Many traits of interest are controlled by multiple genes and improvements have so far only been obtained through conventional breeding. The use of biotechnological tools to modify quantitative traits is highly challenging. CropDesign has developed TraitMill™, an automated plant evaluation platform allowing high-throughput testing of the effect of plant-based transgenes on agronomically valuable traits in crop plants. The focus of the platform is currently on rice, a good model for other important cereals such as maize and wheat. TraitMill™ offers a high-throughput prediction of gene function. Genes of validated function that confer trait improvement can then be transferred to other cereal crop species such as maize, but also to dicots, trees and ornamentals. TraitMill™ involves the following key components: (i) selection of candidate trait improvement genes among genes involved in signal transduction, cell cycle control, transcription, nutrient metabolism, etc.; (ii) a suite of validated constitutive or tissue-specific promoters from rice allowing for the selection of the most appropriate promoter–gene combination in view of the desired trait improvement; (iii) an industrialized plant transformation system generating tens of thousands of transgenic plants annually; and (iv) a robotized trait evaluation set-up for plant evaluation, proprietary image analysis software for measuring plant performance parameters and statistical analysis of results.
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Wu, Xuan, Shuyin Liang, and David H. Byrne. "Heritability of Plant Architecture in Diploid Roses (Rosa spp.)." HortScience 54, no. 2 (February 2019): 236–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.21273/hortsci13511-18.
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Plant architecture is a crucial trait in plant breeding because it is linked to crop yield. For ornamental crops such as roses, plant architecture is key for their aesthetic and economic value. In 2015, six rose plant architectural traits were evaluated on 2- to 3-year-old plants of F1 rose populations in May and December in College Station, TX, to estimate variability and heritability. The traits included plant height, the number of primary shoots, the length of primary shoots, the number of nodes on the primary shoot, the number of secondary shoots per primary shoot, and the number of tertiary shoots per primary shoot. Among these traits, plant height, the number of primary shoots, and the length of primary shoots showed a substantial amount of variability, whereas the number of secondary and tertiary shoots per primary shoot were skewed toward zero. Using a random effects model restricted maximum likelihood (REML) analysis, the architectural traits demonstrated low to moderate narrow-sense heritability (0.12–0.50) and low to high broad-sense heritability (0.34–0.92). Plant height and the number of primary shoots changed little after the first growth phase, whereas the other four traits were affected greatly by the genotype-by-environment (growth phase) interaction.
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Liu, Qi, Frank J. Sterck, Jiao-Lin Zhang, Arne Scheire, Evelien Konings, Min Cao, Li-Qing Sha, and Lourens Poorter. "Traits, strategies, and niches of liana species in a tropical seasonal rainforest." Oecologia 196, no. 2 (May 23, 2021): 499–514. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04937-4.
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AbstractPlant functional traits and strategies hold the promise to explain species distribution, but few studies have linked multiple traits to multiple niche dimensions (i.e., light, water, and nutrients). Here, we analyzed for 29 liana species in a Chinese tropical seasonal rainforest how: (1) trait associations and trade-offs lead to different plant strategies; and (2) how these traits shape species’ niche dimensions. Eighteen functional traits related to light, water, and nutrient use were measured and species niche dimensions were quantified using species distribution in a 20-ha plot combined with data on canopy gaps, topographic water availability, and soil nutrients. We found a tissue toughness spectrum ranging from soft to hard tissues along which species also varied from acquisitive to conservative water use, and a resource acquisition spectrum ranging from low to high light capture and nutrient use. Intriguingly, each spectrum partly reflected the conservative–acquisitive paradigm, but at the same time, the tissue toughness and the resource acquisition spectrum were uncoupled. Resource niche dimensions were better predicted by individual traits than by multivariate plant strategies. This suggests that trait components that underlie multivariate strategy axes, rather than the plant strategies themselves determine species distributions. Different traits were important for different niche dimensions. In conclusion, plant functional traits and strategies can indeed explain species distributions, but not in a simple and straight forward way. Although the identification of global plant strategies has significantly advanced the field, this research shows that global, multivariate generalizations are difficult to translate to local conditions, as different components of these strategies are important under different local conditions.
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Yue, Chengyan, R. Karina Gallardo, James Luby, Alicia Rihn, James R. McFerson, Vicki McCracken, Vance M. Whitaker, et al. "An Evaluation of U.S. Strawberry Producers Trait Prioritization: Evidence from Audience Surveys." HortScience 49, no. 2 (February 2014): 188–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.21273/hortsci.49.2.188.
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The primary goal of this research was to evaluate the relative importance of strawberry fruit quality and plant traits to strawberry producers. Previous studies focus on strawberry traits that impact postharvest quality and marketable yield; however, studies emphasizing the importance of these traits to strawberry producers are scarce. To investigate U.S. strawberry producer trait preferences, a series of audience surveys were conducted at four strawberry producer meetings across the United States. Results indicate that fruit firmness, fruit flavor, and fruit shelf life at retail were the most important fruit/plant traits to producers for a successful strawberry cultivar to possess. Growing state and producers’ years involved in the decision-making process of strawberry farms impacted the relative importance of the fruit/plant traits. This study directly contributes to a larger investigation of supply chain members’ trait preferences to improve the efficiency of Rosaceae fruit crop breeding programs and to increase the likelihood of new cultivar adoption. The overall project should result in a more efficient approach to new strawberry cultivar development and commercialization.
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Cera, Andreu, Gabriel Montserrat-Martí, Arantzazu L. Luzuriaga, Yolanda Pueyo, and Sara Palacio. "When disturbances favour species adapted to stressful soils: grazing may benefit soil specialists in gypsum plant communities." PeerJ 10 (October 12, 2022): e14222. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14222.
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Background Herbivory and extreme soils are drivers of plant evolution. Adaptation to extreme soils often implies substrate-specific traits, and resistance to herbivory involves tolerance or avoidance mechanisms. However, little research has been done on the effect of grazing on plant communities rich in edaphic endemics growing on extreme soils. A widespread study case is gypsum drylands, where livestock grazing often prevails. Despite their limiting conditions, gypsum soils host a unique and highly specialised flora, identified as a conservation priority. Methods We evaluated the effect of different grazing intensities on the assembly of perennial plant communities growing on gypsum soils. We considered the contribution of species gypsum affinity and key functional traits of species such as traits related to gypsum specialisation (leaf S accumulation) or traits related to plant tolerance to herbivory such as leaf C and N concentrations. The effect of grazing intensity on plant community indices (i.e., richness, diversity, community weighted-means (CWM) and functional diversity (FD) indices for each trait) were modelled using Generalised Linear Mixed Models (GLMM). We analysed the relative contribution of interspecific trait variation and intraspecific trait variation (ITV) in shifts of community index values. Results Livestock grazing may benefit gypsum plant specialists during community assembly, as species with high gypsum affinity, and high leaf S contents, were more likely to assemble in the most grazed plots. Grazing also promoted species with traits related to herbivory tolerance, as species with a rapid-growth strategy (high leaf N, low leaf C) were promoted under high grazing conditions. Species that ultimately formed gypsum plant communities had sufficient functional variability among individuals to cope with different grazing intensities, as intraspecific variability was the main component of species assembly for CWM values. Conclusions The positive effects of grazing on plant communities in gypsum soils indicate that livestock may be a key tool for the conservation of these edaphic endemics.
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Bartlett, Megan K., Tamir Klein, Steven Jansen, Brendan Choat, and Lawren Sack. "The correlations and sequence of plant stomatal, hydraulic, and wilting responses to drought." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113, no. 46 (November 2, 2016): 13098–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1604088113.
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Climate change is expected to exacerbate drought for many plants, making drought tolerance a key driver of species and ecosystem responses. Plant drought tolerance is determined by multiple traits, but the relationships among traits, either within individual plants or across species, have not been evaluated for general patterns across plant diversity. We synthesized the published data for stomatal closure, wilting, declines in hydraulic conductivity in the leaves, stems, and roots, and plant mortality for 262 woody angiosperm and 48 gymnosperm species. We evaluated the correlations among the drought tolerance traits across species, and the general sequence of water potential thresholds for these traits within individual plants. The trait correlations across species provide a framework for predicting plant responses to a wide range of water stress from one or two sampled traits, increasing the ability to rapidly characterize drought tolerance across diverse species. Analyzing these correlations also identified correlations among the leaf and stem hydraulic traits and the wilting point, or turgor loss point, beyond those expected from shared ancestry or independent associations with water stress alone. Further, on average, the angiosperm species generally exhibited a sequence of drought tolerance traits that is expected to limit severe tissue damage during drought, such as wilting and substantial stem embolism. This synthesis of the relationships among the drought tolerance traits provides crucial, empirically supported insight into representing variation in multiple traits in models of plant and ecosystem responses to drought.
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Dubois, Jonathan, and Pierre-Olivier Cheptou. "Effects of fragmentation on plant adaptation to urban environments." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 372, no. 1712 (January 19, 2017): 20160038. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0038.
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Urban ecosystems are relatively recent and heavily human-altered terrestrial ecosystems with a surprisingly high diversity of animals, plants and other organisms. Urban habitats are also strongly fragmented and subject to higher temperatures, providing a compelling model for studying adaptation to global change. Crepis sancta (Asteraceae), an annual Mediterranean wasteland weed, occupies fragmented urban environments as well as certain unfragmented landscapes in southern France. We tested for shifts in dispersal, reproductive traits and size across a rural–urban gradient to learn whether and how selection may be driving changes in life history in urban and fragmented habitats. We specifically compared the structure of quantitative genetic variation and of neutral markers (microsatellites) between urban and rural and between fragmented and unfragmented habitats. We showed that fragmentation provides a better descriptor of trait variation than urbanization per se for dispersal traits. Fragmentation also affected reproductive traits and plant size though one rural population did conform to this scheme. Our study shows the role of fragmentation for dispersal traits shift in urban environments and a more complex pattern for other traits. We discuss the role of pollinator scarcity and an inhospitable matrix as drivers of adaptation. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Human influences on evolution, and the ecological and societal consequences’.
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Hölker, Armin C., Manfred Mayer, Thomas Presterl, Therese Bolduan, Eva Bauer, Bernardo Ordas, Pedro C. Brauner, Milena Ouzunova, Albrecht E. Melchinger, and Chris-Carolin Schön. "European maize landraces made accessible for plant breeding and genome-based studies." Theoretical and Applied Genetics 132, no. 12 (September 26, 2019): 3333–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00122-019-03428-8.
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Key message Doubled-haploid libraries from landraces capture native genetic diversity for a multitude of quantitative traits and make it accessible for breeding and genome-based studies. Abstract Maize landraces comprise large allelic diversity. We created doubled-haploid (DH) libraries from three European flint maize landraces and characterized them with respect to their molecular diversity, population structure, trait means, variances, and trait correlations. In total, 899 DH lines were evaluated using high-quality genotypic and multi-environment phenotypic data from up to 11 environments. The DH lines covered 95% of the molecular variation present in 35 landraces of an earlier study and represent the original three landrace populations in an unbiased manner. A comprehensive analysis of the target trait plant development at early growth stages as well as other important agronomic traits revealed large genetic variation for line per se and testcross performance. The majority of the 378 DH lines evaluated as testcrosses outperformed the commercial hybrids for early development. For total biomass yield, we observed a yield gap of 15% between mean testcross yield of the commercial hybrids and mean testcross yield of the DH lines. The DH lines also exhibited genetic variation for undesirable traits like root lodging and tillering, but correlations with target traits early development and yield were low or nonsignificant. The presented diversity atlas is a valuable, publicly available resource for genome-based studies to identify novel trait variation and evaluate the prospects of genomic prediction in landrace-derived material.
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Cortois, Roeland, Thomas Schröder‐Georgi, Alexandra Weigelt, Wim H. Putten, and Gerlinde B. De Deyn. "Plant–soil feedbacks: role of plant functional group and plant traits." Journal of Ecology 104, no. 6 (August 24, 2016): 1608–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12643.
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Simpson, Kimberley J., Jill K. Olofsson, Brad S. Ripley, and Colin P. Osborne. "Frequent fires prime plant developmental responses to burning." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 286, no. 1909 (August 21, 2019): 20191315. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1315.
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Coping with temporal variation in fire requires plants to have plasticity in traits that promote persistence, but how plastic responses to current conditions are affected by past fire exposure remains unknown. We investigate phenotypic divergence between populations of four resprouting grasses exposed to differing experimental fire regimes (annually burnt or unburnt for greater than 35 years) and test whether divergence persists after plants are grown in a common environment for 1 year. Traits relating to flowering and biomass allocation were measured before plants were experimentally burnt, and their regrowth was tracked. Genetic differentiation between populations was investigated for a subset of individuals. Historic fire frequency influenced traits relating to flowering and below-ground investment. Previously burnt plants produced more inflorescences and invested proportionally more biomass below ground, suggesting a greater capacity for recruitment and resprouting than unburnt individuals. Tiller-scale regrowth rate did not differ between treatments, but prior fire exposure enhanced total regrown biomass in two species. We found no consistent genetic differences between populations suggesting trait differences arose from developmental plasticity. Grass development is influenced by prior fire exposure, independent of current environmental conditions. This priming response to fire, resulting in adaptive trait changes, may produce communities more resistant to future fire regime changes.
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Joswig, Julia S., Christian Wirth, Meredith C. Schuman, Jens Kattge, Björn Reu, Ian J. Wright, Sebastian D. Sippel, et al. "Climatic and soil factors explain the two-dimensional spectrum of global plant trait variation." Nature Ecology & Evolution 6, no. 1 (December 23, 2021): 36–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01616-8.
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AbstractPlant functional traits can predict community assembly and ecosystem functioning and are thus widely used in global models of vegetation dynamics and land–climate feedbacks. Still, we lack a global understanding of how land and climate affect plant traits. A previous global analysis of six traits observed two main axes of variation: (1) size variation at the organ and plant level and (2) leaf economics balancing leaf persistence against plant growth potential. The orthogonality of these two axes suggests they are differently influenced by environmental drivers. We find that these axes persist in a global dataset of 17 traits across more than 20,000 species. We find a dominant joint effect of climate and soil on trait variation. Additional independent climate effects are also observed across most traits, whereas independent soil effects are almost exclusively observed for economics traits. Variation in size traits correlates well with a latitudinal gradient related to water or energy limitation. In contrast, variation in economics traits is better explained by interactions of climate with soil fertility. These findings have the potential to improve our understanding of biodiversity patterns and our predictions of climate change impacts on biogeochemical cycles.