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opencc-zeroJan 2024View details →

Phylogeny and climate explain contrasting hydraulic traits in different life forms of 150 woody Fabaceae species

<ol> <li>The contrasting hydraulic traits observed among different plant life forms are shaped by entangled environmental and evolutionary processes. However, we lack an understanding of the relative importance of life form, climate and phylogeny in explaining the variance of hydraulic traits.</li> <li>We analyzed seven hydraulic traits and eleven climatic variables of 150 Fabaceae species representing three life forms from 62 sites worldwide, using phylogenetic comparative analyses and variance partitioning.</li> <li>The phylogenetic signal found in most traits disappeared after considering life form, indicating that phylogenetic conservatism in traits originated from the divergence among life forms. The trait-climate relationships were also phylogenetically dependent, implying that trait responses are driven by climate and phylogeny together. Variance partitioning showed that phylogeny and climate explained greater trait variation than life form did.</li> <li> Synthesis. The climate-driven hydraulic trait responses in Fabaceae still existed with phylogeny being considered, suggesting that this large family may be particularly sensitive to climate change. Our results emphasize the need to include phylogeny in plant hydraulic adaptation studies under future climate change.</li> </ol>

opencc-zeroMar 2024View details →

Fifteen physiological traits related to osmoregulation and reactive oxygen species metabolism in two life form aquatic plants under a natural water salinity gradient on the Tibetan Plateau and Northwest China

Aquatic plants, as the primary producers, determine the community structure and ecological function of freshwater ecosystems. However, salinization threatens inland freshwater wetlands and thus the survival of aquatic plants. Exploring the plant physiological responses to increasing water salinity could enhance our understandings of plant adaptive strategies under future climate change regimes in wetlands. We measured 15 physiological traits of 49 aquatic plant species along a large environmental gradient in alpine and arid regions of western China, to explore the physiological adaptions and compare the similarities and differences in adaptive strategies between the two life forms to natural water salinity. We found that both water salinity and low temperature were key factors affecting aquatic plants in alpine and arid regions. Aquatic plants adapt to saline habitats by accumulating proline and sulfur (S) concentrations, and to cold habitats by increasing ascorbate peroxidase activity. Plant trait network analysis showed that the hub trait in emergent plants was S, but in submerged plants was proline, suggesting that emergent plants balanced osmoregulation and reactive oxygen metabolism via S-containing compounds, while submerged plants prioritizing the regulation of osmotic balance via proline.

opencc-zeroApr 2022View details →

Biogeography of different life forms of the southernmost neotropical tank bromeliad

Aim: Factors affecting bromeliad distribution depend on the life forms of the studied species, some could grow as terrestrial, saxicolous, or epiphytic depending on the type of habitat. We analyzed the distribution patterns of the life forms of a bromeliad species on different biogeographic domains and associated them with environmental variables and vegetation types. Location: Chaquenian, Amazonian, and Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest domains; South America. Taxon: The tank bromeliad Aechmea distichantha (Bromeliaceae: Bromelioideae). Methods: We compiled records of the biogeographic distribution and the vegetation types where Aechmea distichantha occurs based on bibliographic data, digital datasets, herbaria, and personal observations. We associated the distributional records of this species with altitude, five selected bioclimatic variables, four soil variables, and with the vegetation types where it occurs. Results: Aechmea distichantha has been recorded as epiphytic, terrestrial, and saxicolous in all biogeographic domains, but showed contrasting patterns in life form proportions among them. In the Amazonian domain, characterized by evergreen tropical and subtropical forests with high precipitation, it mainly grows as epiphytic. In the Chaquenian domain, dominated by xerophytic forests with low rainfall, high soil pH, and base saturation, it mainly grows as terrestrial, whereas in the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest domain the three life forms were recorded in similar proportions. In azonal plant communities of all domains, it mainly grows as saxicolous. Main conclusions: This tank bromeliad species can thrive in sites with contrasting habitat and environmental conditions. Its ability to survive in different environments could be associated with its high frost tolerance, the presence of the CAM photosynthetic pathway, a well-developed phytotelma, and high phenotypic plasticity. The life form prevailing in each domain is influenced by water availability (i.e. the quantity of water available during each year, the precipitation in the driest month, and the plant water supply relative to demand).

opencc-by-4.0May 2022View details →

Ideational Franciscanism: Form-of-life + Life-works

“Ideational Franciscanism: Form-of-life + Life-works” – MP4 (PPT2MP4) – 428.6 MB – 29:25   Until a new and coherent ontology of potentiality (beyond the steps that have been made in this direction by Spinoza, Schelling, Nietzsche, and Heidegger) has replaced the ontology founded on the primacy of actuality and its relation to potentiality, a political theory freed from the aporias of sovereignty remains unthinkable. – Giorgio Agamben   Intellectual and artistic achievements are often a case of covering up an impoverished heart, though they need not be so. Perhaps this is also the reason why early Franciscanism discouraged bookish intentions and “scholarly disquisitions” in the manner of Medieval scholastics. Perhaps this is also the reason why the Franciscan Rule (form-of-life) went from fairly straightforward to florid and then to bare bones – ending with Francis more or less issuing a reduction, on his deathbed, very close to the (in)famous Augustinian proclamation, “Love and do what you will.”   Agamben’s “aporias of sovereignty” suggest the holes in ideological posturing, through which one might drive a cart full of wares destined not for the markets but for “else-where.” His hoped-for “ontology of potentiality” without measure (ends) suggests the otherwise suggestive devolution of this-worldly justifications for forms of knowledge that might, under the right conditions, lead to this proverbial else-where. Yet grounding it in the expectation of a “political theory” seems ill-advised. The remnant that he often refers to in his theological and a-theological musings has little to do with socio-political intrigue; and his own position in constructing a response to the “primacy of actuality” seems often based upon far too many actualities in the form of historically determined impositions upon subjects from the empty centers of ideological posturing.   Video presentation prepared for the colloquium, “Justice as Translation and Counter-storytelling,” UCILeR (Instituto Jurídico da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Coimbra, University of Coimbra Institute for Legal Research), ISSL (Italian Society for Law and Literature) and ATFD (Associação Portuguesa de Teoria do Direito, Filosofia do Direito e Filosofia Social, the Portuguese section of IVR), Coimbra, Portugal, May 26-28, 2022

Fig. 8 in Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from the region of Cape Emine (Central Bulgarian Black sea coast). Part I. Taxonomic and zoogeographic structure, life forms, habitat and humidity preferences

Fig. 8. Ecological groups of carabids in terms of humidity (number of specimens).

Fig. 6 in Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from the region of Cape Emine (Central Bulgarian Black sea coast). Part I. Taxonomic and zoogeographic structure, life forms, habitat and humidity preferences

Fig. 6. Proportions of the species according to the type of preferred habitat.

Fig. 7 in Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from the region of Cape Emine (Central Bulgarian Black sea coast). Part I. Taxonomic and zoogeographic structure, life forms, habitat and humidity preferences

Fig. 7. Ecological groups of carabids in terms of humidity (number of species).

Fig. 5 in Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from the region of Cape Emine (Central Bulgarian Black sea coast). Part I. Taxonomic and zoogeographic structure, life forms, habitat and humidity preferences

Fig. 5. Proportions of the species according to their habitat preferendum.

Fig. 3 in Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from the region of Cape Emine (Central Bulgarian Black sea coast). Part I. Taxonomic and zoogeographic structure, life forms, habitat and humidity preferences

Fig. 3. Proportions of the carabid species by zoogeographical complexes.

Fig. 2 in Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from the region of Cape Emine (Central Bulgarian Black sea coast). Part I. Taxonomic and zoogeographic structure, life forms, habitat and humidity preferences

Fig. 2. Proportions of the species among the tribes.

Fig. 1 in Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from the region of Cape Emine (Central Bulgarian Black sea coast). Part I. Taxonomic and zoogeographic structure, life forms, habitat and humidity preferences

Fig. 1. Proportions of the species among the tribes.

opencc-zeroNov 2022View details →

Relationships between egg size and maternal size, life-history forms, and habitats of Greenlandic Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus)

Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus [L.] complex) has been widely used as a model system for studies in evolutionary ecology because of its diversity in feeding ecology, habitat use, life-history forms, and associated morphologies observed in matured individuals. However, we still know relatively little about traits exhibited early in life of the species, although the trait diversity of matured individuals may largely be shaped during development. Egg size is a key determinant ofvarious traits exhibited early in life. Therefore, describing egg size variation within- and between-individuals as well as the link between egg size and adult traits will be a useful step in understanding the early life trait diversity of Arctic charr. Here, using Greenlandic Arctic charr, which includes alternative life-history forms (i.e., anadromous and resident) and spawning habitat use (i.e., lake- and river- spawner), we described egg size variation (i.e., clutch-mean egg diameter and within-clutch variation) and explored the link between egg size variation and female body length, life-history form, and spawning habitats. As in many other fishes, clutch-mean egg diameter increased with female body length. No significant effect of other female traits on clutch mean-egg diameter was detected, suggesting that female body size variation could be a direct cause of early life history trait variation. On the other hand, we found that the degree of within-clutch variation of the anadromous life-history form was higher than that of the resident life-history form. The pattern could be interpreted in an adaptive context. For instance, given that the anadromous life-history form tends to be semelparous, anadromous females could decrease the likelihood of complete reproductive failure by producing variable-sized offspring within a clutch since at least some offspring are expected to be matched to the prevailing environment.