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opencc-zeroAug 2022View details →

Spring phenology and pathogen infection affect multigenerational plant attackers throughout the growing season

Climate change has been shown to advance spring phenology, increase the number of insect generations per year (multivoltinism), and increase pathogen infection levels. However, we lack insights into the effects of plant spring phenology and the biotic environment on the preference and performance of multivoltine herbivores and whether such effects extend into the later part of the growing season. To this aim, we used a multifactorial growth chamber experiment to examine the influence of spring phenology on plant pathogen infection, and how the independent and interactive effects of spring phenology and plant pathogen infection affect the preference and performance of multigenerational attackers (the leaf miner Tischeria ekebladella and the aphid Tuberculatus annulatus) on the pedunculate oak in the early, mid and late parts of the plant growing season. Pathogen infection was highest on late phenology plants, irrespective of whether inoculations were conducted in the early, mid or late season. The leaf miner consistently preferred to oviposit on middle and late phenology plants, as well as healthy plants, during all parts of the growing season, whereas we detected an interactive effect between spring phenology and pathogen infection on the performance of the leaf miner. Aphids preferred healthy, late phenology plants during the early season, healthy plants during the mid season, and middle phenology plants during the late season, whereas aphid performance was consistently higher on healthy plants during all parts of the growing season. Our findings highlight that the impact of spring phenology on pathogen infection and the preference and performance of insect herbivores is not restricted to the early season, but that its imprint is still present – and sometimes equally strong – during the peak and end of the growing season. Plant pathogens generally negatively affected herbivore preference and performance, and modulated the effects of spring phenology. We conclude that spring phenology and pathogen infection are two important factors shaping the preference and performance of multigenerational plant attackers, which is particularly relevant given the current advance in spring phenology, pathogen outbreaks and increase in voltinism with climate change.

opencc-zeroAug 2022View details →

Diaspore traits specialized to animal adhesion and sea current dispersal are positively associated with the naturalization of European plants across the World

Understanding what drives non-native species naturalization (the establishment of a self-sustainable population outside its native range) is a central question in invasion science. Plants' capacity for long distance dispersal (LDD) is likely to influence the spread and naturalization of non-native species differently according to their introduction pathways. These pathways include intentional introductions (for economic use, e.g. for agriculture), unintentional introductions (e.g. seed contaminants), plant dispersal via human infrastructures (e.g. roads), and plant spread from an adjacent region where the species was previously introduced. Herein, we tested the relationship between sets of LDD traits (syndromes) of 10,308 European plant species and their global naturalization incidence (i.e. whether a species has become naturalized or not) and extent (i.e. the number of regions where a species has become naturalized) using the most comprehensive database of naturalized plants worldwide (GloNAF). Diaspore traits allowed the identification of four traditional LDD syndromes, namely those with specializations for dispersal by: wind (anemochorous), animal ingestion (endozoochorous), attached to animals (epizoochorous), and sea currents (thalassochorous). These evolutionary specializations have been historically interpreted by biologists even though actual dispersal is not always related to diaspore syndromes. We found that while epizoochorous and thalassochorous traits are positively associated with global plant naturalization incidence, anemochorous and endozoochorous traits show a negative relationship. Species´ residence time outside their native range, their economic use and presence of epizoochorous traits (such as hooks, hairs and adhesive substances) are positively associated with global naturalization extent. Furthermore, we found that plants' economic use reduces the influence of LDD syndromes on the naturalization incidence of intentionally introduced plants. While the success of non-native plants is influenced by a broad array of species- and context-specific factors, LDD syndromes play an important role in this context depending on the economic use of plants.

Data from: Responses of invasive and native plants to different forms and availability of phosphorus

Premise—Many studies have assessed the various responses of alien plants to changes in overall nutrient or different nitrogen (N) availabilities. However, in natural soils, nutrients are present as different chemical elements (e.g., N and phosphorus [P]) and forms (e.g., inorganic and organic). Few studies have explored yet whether invasive and native species differ in their responses to varying P availability and forms. Key results—We found that invasive species did not show an overall higher biomass production than that of native species under varied P conditions. However, the biomass response to organic P was, relative to the response to inorganic P, stronger for the invasive species than that for the native species. This coincided with the pattern that invasive species mainly allocated biomass to the root system under organic P conditions. Conclusions—Our study indicates that while invasive species were not more promiscuous than native species were, they took great advantage of the organic-P forms. Therefore, the invasion risk of alien species may increase in habitats with more organic P sources.

Does the intensive grazing and aridity change the relations between the dominant shrub Artemisia kopetdaghensis and plants under its canopies?

The inter-specific plant interactions along grazing and aridity stress gradients represent a major research issue in plant ecology. However, the combined effects of these two factors on plant-plant interactions have been poorly studied in the northeast of Iran. To fill this knowledge gap, 144 plots were established in 12 study sites with different grazing intensity (high vs. low) and climatic characteristics (arid vs. semi-arid) in northeastern Iran. A dominant shrub, Artemisia kopetdaghensis, was selected as the model species. Further, we studied changes in plant life strategies along the combined grazing and aridity stress gradients. In this study, we used relative interaction indices calculated for species richness, Shannon diversity and species cover to determine plant-plant interactions using linear mixed-effect models (LMM). The indicator species analysis was used to identify the indicator species for the under-canopy of shrub and for the adjacent open areas. The combined effects of grazing and aridity affected the plant-plant interactions and plant life strategies (CSR) of indicator species. Artemisia kopetdaghensis showed the highest facilitation effect under high stress conditions (high grazing, high aridity), which turned into competition under the low stress conditions (low grazing, low aridity). In the arid region, the canopy of the shrub protected ruderals, annual forbs and grasses in both high and low grazing intensity. In the semi-arid region and high grazing intensity (low aridity/high grazing), the shrubs protected mostly perennial forbs with C-strategy. Our findings highlight the importance of context-dependent shrub management to restore the vegetation damaged by the intensive grazing.

opencc-zeroDec 2020View details →

No Escape: The Influence of Substrate Sodium on Plant Growth and Tissue Sodium Responses

This dataset contains data from a systematic review carried out to understand substrate sodium's influence on plant growth and sodium accumulation strategies. Accordingly, we carried out a systematic review of plants' responses to variation in substrate sodium concentrations. We compared biomass and tissue-sodium accumulation among 107 cultivars or populations (67 species in 20 plant families), broadly expanding beyond the agricultural and model taxa for which several generalizations previously had been made. We hypothesized a priori response models for each population's growth and sodium accumulation as a function of increasing substrate NaCl and used Bayesian Information Criterion to choose the best model. Additionally, using a phylogenetic signal analysis, we tested for phylogenetic patterning of responses across taxa. The influence of substrate sodium on growth differed across taxa, with most populations experiencing detrimental effects at high concentrations. Irrespective of growth responses, tissue sodium concentrations for most taxa increased as sodium concentration in the substrate increased. We found no strong associations between type of growth response and type of sodium accumulation response across taxa. Although experiments often fail to test plants across a sufficiently broad range of substrate salinities, non-crop species tended toward higher sodium tolerance than domesticated species. Moreover, some phylogenetic conservatism was apparent, in that evolutionary history helped predict the distribution of total-plant growth responses across the phylogeny, but not sodium accumulation responses. Our study reveals that saltier plants in saltier soils prove to be a broadly general pattern for sodium across plant taxa. Regardless of growth responses, sodium accumulation mostly followed an increasing trend as substrate sodium levels increased.

Chronic browsing by an introduced mammalian herbivore in a tropical island alters species composition and functional traits of forest understory plant communities

Mammalian herbivores have large-scale impacts on vegetation, altering structure and species composition, especially in tropical grasslands and savannas. However, there is limited understanding of the potential impacts of mammalian herbivores in tropical wet forests, where they are typically less abundant. We investigated the effects of an introduced mammalian herbivore chital (Axis axis) on vegetation structure, composition and leaf functional traits of tropical evergreen forests of the Andaman Islands, India. Across seven islands, representing a gradient of herbivore densities, increasing chital presence was associated with decreased understory richness, understory density and adult tree richness, but was not related to adult tree density or size class distributions. We also found a significant decrease in community-level leaf palatability traits (specific leaf area decreased and leaf thickness increased) with increasing chital habitat use. This community-level shift in leaf trait values was better explained by intra-specific variation in leaf traits across islands rather than changes in species composition. In summary, we show persistent long-term impacts of an introduced mammalian herbivore on understory tropical tree communities although there is little impact on adult tree communities. Our results also show that functional traits of species can be altered in response to novel herbivory, even at herbivore densities where there are no detectable impacts on adult forest structure or composition. Such altered functional traits may potentially alter ecosystem functioning in these forests even without changes in vegetation structure.

High resolution ancient sedimentary DNA shows that alpine plant diversity is associated with human land use and climate change

The European Alps are highly rich in species, but their future may be threatened by ongoing changes in human land use and climate. Here, we reconstructed vegetation, temperature, human impact and livestock over the past ~12,000 years from Lake Sulsseewli, based on sedimentary ancient plant and mammal DNA, pollen, spores, chironomids, and microcharcoal. We assembled a highly-complete local DNA reference library (PhyloAlps, 3,923 plant taxa), and used this to obtain an exceptionally rich sedaDNA record of 366 plant taxa. Vegetation mainly responded to climate during the early Holocene, while human activity had an additional influence on vegetation from 6 ka onwards. Land-use shifted from episodic grazing during the Neolithic and Bronze Age to agropastoralism in the Middle Ages. Associated human deforestation allowed the coexistence of plant species typically found at different elevational belts, leading to levels of plant richness that characterise the current high diversity of this region. Our findings indicate a positive association between low-intensity agropastoral activities and precipitation with the maintenance of the unique subalpine and alpine plant diversity of the European Alps.

Plant litter chemistry controls coarse-textured soil carbon dynamics

1. As soils store more carbon (C) than the Earth's atmosphere and terrestrial biomass together, the balance between soil C uptake in the form of soil organic matter and release as CO2 upon its decomposition is a critical determinant in the global C cycle regulating our planet's climate. Although plant litter is the predominant source of C fueling both soil C build-up and losses, the issue of how litter chemistry influences this balance remains unresolved. 2. As a contribution to solving that issue, we traced the fate of C during near-complete decomposition of 13C-labelled leaf and root litters from 12 plant species in a coarse-textured soil. We separated the soil organic carbon (SOC) into mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) and particulate organic matter (POM) pools, and investigated how 14 litter chemical traits affected novel SOC formation and native SOC mineralization (i.e., the priming effect) in these soil fractions. 3. We observed an overall net increase in SOC due to the addition of litter, which was stronger for root than for leaf litters. The presumed stable MAOM-C pool underwent both substantial stabilization and mineralization, whereas the presumably less stable POM-C pool showed substantial stabilization and reduced mineralization. Overall, the initial increase in soil C mineralization was fully counterbalanced by a later decrease in native soil C mineralization. POM-C formation as well as MAOM-C formation and mineralization were positively related to the initial litter lignin concentration and negatively to that of the nitrogen leachates, whereas the opposite was observed for POM-C mineralization. 4. Synthesis. Our results highlight the importance of litter chemical traits for SOC formation, and stabilization, destabilization, and mineralization. In our coarse-textured soil, the amount of MAOM-C did not change despite large C fluxes through this pool. The litter chemical traits that drove these processes differed from those frequently reported for fine-textured soils far from mineral-associated C saturation. To account for these discrepancies, we propose an integrative perspective in which litter quality and soil texture interactively control soil C fluxes by modulating several SOC stabilization and destabilization mechanisms. Irrespective, our results open new critical perspectives for managing soil C pools globally.

opencc-by-4.0Sep 2022View details →

Microbiome network connectivity and composition linked to disease resistance in strawberry plants

The two R data files correspond phyloseq objects used in the study. The file phyloseq_nochim_silva.RData and phyloseq_nochim_unite.RData correspond to bacterial and fungal phyloseq objects, respectively. Both objects include count table, taxonomy table and metadata information.

opencc-by-4.0Sep 2022View details →

"Efficacy of Plant-derived Fungicides at Inhibiting Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans Growth" Dataset and Code

The emerging fungal amphibian pathogen, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), is currently spreading across Europe and given its estimated invasion potential, has the capacity to decimate salamander populations worldwide. Fungicides are a promising in situ management strategy for Bsal due to their ability to treat the environment and infected individuals. However, antifungal drugs or pesticides could adversely affect the environment and non-target hosts, thus identifying safe, effective candidate fungicides for in situ treatment is needed. Here, we estimated the inhibitory fungicidal efficacy of five plant-derived fungicides (thymol, curcumin, allicin, 6-gingerol, and Pond Pimafix®) and one chemical fungicide (Virkon® Aquatic) against Bsal zoospores in vitro. We used a broth microdilution method in 48-well plates to test the efficacy of six concentrations per fungicide on Bsal zoospore viability. Following plate incubation, we performed cell viability assays and agar plate growth trials to estimate the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of each fungicide. All six fungicides exhibited inhibitory and fungicidal effects against Bsal growth, with estimated MIC concentrations ranging from 60 to 0.156 μg/mL for the different compounds. Allicin showed the greatest efficacy (i.e., lowest MIC and MFC) against Bsal zoospores followed by curcumin, Pond Pimafix®, thymol, 6-gingerol, and Virkon® Aquatic, respectively. Our results provide evidence that plant-derived fungicides are effective at inhibiting and killing Bsal zoospores in vitro and may be useful for in situ treatment. Additional studies are needed to estimate the efficacy of these fungicides at inactivating Bsal in the environment and treating Bsal-infected amphibians.

Database of plant-flower visitor interactions from Ireland

Beneficial insects provide valuable services upon which we rely, including pollination. Pollinator conservation is a global priority, and a significant concern in Ireland, where over half of extant bee species have declined significantly in recent decades. As flower-visiting insects rely on flowering plants, one way to conserve and promote pollinator populations is to protect high-quality habitat. We analysed the structure of insect-flower interactions from multiple habitat categories in a large database of interactions from Ireland. Our primary goals were to compare spatial and temporal variation in Irish network structures, compare Irish networks to published networks from other countries, and provide evidence-based recommendations for pollinator conservation in Ireland by identifying well-visited plant species that may promote high pollinator diversity, abundance, and functional complementarity. Habitat types within Ireland differed substantially: semi-natural grasslands had the highest pollinator species richness and largest number of unique pollinator species, while intensively-managed habitats exhibited negative asymmetry (more plant than pollinator species). This negative asymmetry is notable because most plant-pollinator networks exhibit a positive asymmetry. Within intensively-managed habitats, agricultural and urban habitats differed. Urban habitats had the highest number of non-native plant species while agricultural habitats had the lowest pollinator species richness. We also found Irish networks varied across the growing season, where July had the highest plant and insect species richness. When comparing Irish networks to published networks from other countries, we found Irish networks had a higher ratio of plant species to pollinator species, and that this difference was most evident in agricultural habitats. This ratio means the typical network asymmetry (more pollinator than plant species) was flipped (more plant than pollinator species) in the Irish network. We conclude that conserving semi-natural grasslands in Ireland will be an essential component of pollinator conservation and identify thirty-five plant species important for restoring semi-natural habitats.

Traits of soil bacteria predict plant responses to soil moisture

Microbes can promote beneficial plant and animal responses to abiotic environments, but the ecological drivers of this benefit remain elusive. Here we investigated byproduct benefits, which occur when traits that increase the fitness of one species provide incidental benefits to another species with no direct cost to the provider species. In experimental mesocosms, microbial traits predicted plant responses to soil moisture such that bacteria with self-beneficial traits in drought increased plant early growth, size at reproduction, and chlorophyll concentration under drought, while bacteria with self-beneficial traits in well-watered environments increased these same plant traits in well-watered environments. Thus, microbial traits that promote microbial success in different soil moisture environments also promote plant success in these same environments. Our results show that the concept of byproduct benefits, originally conceived to explain the evolution of cooperation in pairwise mutualisms, also applies to interactions between plants and non-symbiotic soil microbes.

Data from: Functional traits underlying performance variations in the overwintering of the cosmopolitan invasive plant water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) under climate warming and water drawdown

Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate that temperature rise is still the general trend of the global climate in the 21st century. Invasive species may benefit from the increase in temperature, as climate can be viewed as a resource, and the increase in the available resources favors the invasibility of invasive species. This study aimed to assess the overwintering growth of the cosmopolitan invasive plant water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) at its northern boundary. Using E. crassipes as a model plant, a cross-year mesocosm experiment was conducted to determine 17 plant functional traits, including growth, morphological, root topological, photosynthetic and stoichiometric traits, under climate warming (ambient, temperature rises of 1.5°C and 3.0°C) and water drawdown or water withdrawal (water depths of 1 cm, 10 cm and 20 cm) treatments. The overwintering growth of E. crassipes was facilitated by climate warming and proper water drawdown, and climate warming played a leading role. A temperature rises of 3.0°C and a water depth of 10 cm were the most suitable conditions for the overwintering and rooting behavior of the plant. Controlling the temperature to within 1.5°C, an ambitious goal for China, still facilitated the overwintering of E. crassipes. With climate warming, the plant can overwinter successfully, which possibly assists it in producing and spreading new ramets in the vernal flood season. The new rooting behavior induced by ambient low temperature may be viewed as a unique growth adaptation strategy for a niche change, as it helps these plants invade empty niches left by dead free-floating plants on the water surface following winter freezes. With continued global warming, the distribution of the plant may expand northward, and eradication of the plant during the winter water drawdown period may be a more effective strategy.

Pollen limitation of native plant reproduction in an urban landscape

Premise: Evidence suggests that bees may benefit from moderate levels of human development. However, the effects of human development on pollination and reproduction of bee-pollinated plants are less well understood. Studies have measured natural variation in pollination and plant reproduction as a function of urbanization, but few have experimentally measured the magnitude of pollen limitation in urban versus non-urban sites. Doing so is important to unambiguously link changes in pollination to plant reproduction. Previous work in the Southeastern US found that urban sites supported twice the abundance of bees compared to non-urban sites. We tested the hypothesis that greater bee abundance in some of the same urban sites translates into reduced pollen limitation compared to non-urban sites. Methods: We manipulated pollination to three native, wild-growing, bee-pollinated plants: Gelsemium sempervirens, Oenothera fruticosa, and Campsis radicans. Using supplemental pollinations, we tested for pollen limitation of three components of female reproduction in paired urban and non-urban sites. We also measured pollen receipt as a proxy for pollinator visitation. Results: We found that all three plant species were pollen-limited for some measures of female reproduction. However, opposite to our original hypothesis, two of the three species were more pollen-limited in urban relative to non-urban sites. We found that open-pollinated flowers in urban sites received less conspecific and more heterospecific pollen on average than those in non-urban sites. Conclusions: These results suggest that even when urban sites have more abundant pollinators, this may not alleviate pollen limitation of native plant reproduction in urban landscapes.

opencc-zeroOct 2022View details →

Testing the assumption of environmental equilibrium in an invasive plant species over a 130 year history

Invasive plants are an increasing threat to global biodiversity. Effective management depends on accurate predictions of their spread. However, modelling the geographic distribution of invasive species, particularly with correlative species distribution models (SDMs), is challenging. SDMs assume that species are in equilibrium with their environment (i.e., they occur in all suitable environments); this assumption is likely to be violated for a species that is actively invading new environments. This assumption is rarely assessed, and when violated can have consequences for model reliability. Using the invasive vine Vincetoxicum rossicum, we tested the hypotheses that: 1) invasive species' distribution in environmental and geographic space increase to a plateau over time; 2) this plateau is a useful proxy for equilibrium distribution, a key assumption underlying SDMs. We compare V. rossicum's expansion in environmental and geographic space between historical and current time periods and infer equilibrium when its distribution has remained stable for an extended period. We also compare the performance of SDMs from historical time periods in predicting the current geographic distribution of V. rossicum. We found that V. rossicum has reached equilibrium in environmental space, but is still expanding its geographic distribution. SDM performance was poor in the first 30 years following introduction, but improved as V. rossicum approached environmental equilibrium. Our findings demonstrate the power of including temporal dynamics and the need to consider environmental and geographic equilibrium separately when modelling the distribution of invasive species. In light of our findings, we address shortcomings of the current approach to defining an equilibrium distribution and present a new perspective for reconciling the potentially confounding influence of dispersal limitation when assessing equilibrium distribution.

opencc-zeroOct 2022View details →

Data for: Concurrent impacts with harvesting on NTFP plants

Investigating the concurrent impacts of harvesting wild vegetables can guide their sustainable management while contributing to the understanding of such impacts on NTFP species. This study investigated leaf production, morphological and growth responses to the concurrent impacts of drought and leaf harvesting between two wild vegetables. A randomized greenhouse experiment was implemented with 1,334 plants of Amaranthus sp. and 391 of Bidens pilosa. A drought treatment was first implemented through six levels of drought stress and a control treatment. The harvesting treatment consisted of four harvesting levels and was implemented twice. Measurements were recorded before the first and second harvests and at the end of the experiment. Data were separated into two periods (after first and second harvests) and analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance and log-linear analysis. The results showed significant effects of drought on both species. However, Amaranthus sp. appeared more resilient to reduction in the daily amount of water than reduction in the frequency, while B. pilosa was resilient under both facets of drought stress. For Amaranthus sp., basal diameter, its growth, leaf production and survival increased with increase in the harvesting level (with some exceptions) after first harvest. After second harvest, there was a decrease in plant height and leaf production. In B. pilosa, the impact was only significant on survival and leaf production (after first harvest). The effect of the interaction of the two drivers was significant for Amaranthus sp. but not for B. pilosa. The results also highlighted the possible negative impact of a prolonged high rate of harvesting on the species' performance, especially under severe drought. Basal diameter, its growth, survival and leaf production appeared more resilient to reduced amounts of watering in Amaranthus sp. and under both types of drought stress for B. pilosa. This suggests that both species could be sustained under medium drought stress.

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2022View details →

Mining Proteomic Databases of a Model Plant Medicago truncatula for Mosaic Proteins and Other Unconventional Translation Products

How many different proteins can be produced from a single spliced transcript? Genome annotation projects do not consider the coding potential of reading frames other than that of the reference open reading frames (refORFs). Recently, alternative open reading frames (altORFs) and their translational products, alternative proteins (altProts), have been shown to carry out important functions in various organisms. Overlapping altORFs may be involved in one fundamental mechanism so far overlooked. A few years ago, it was proposed that altORFs may act as building blocks for chimeric (mosaic) polypeptides, which are produced via multiple ribosomal frameshifting events from a single mature transcript. We adopt terminology from that earlier discussion and call this mechanism mosaic translation. This way of extracting and combining genetic information may significantly increase proteome diversity. Thus, we hypothesize that this mechanism may have contributed to the flexibility and adaptability of organisms to a variety of environmental conditions. The idea of mosaic translation is a testable hypothesis, although its direct demonstration is technically very challenging. If confirmed, this concept will revolutionize modern genetics. In this project, we would like to follow a unique strategy for the detection of mosaic proteins in proteomic databases publicly available for a very important model plant Medicago truncatula. The proposed analysis will be based on our own preliminary data already generated in the course of an ongoing TÜBİTAK1002 project. Regardless of whether the evidence for mosaic translation is found in this study, this effort will help identify such proteins later when more proteomic data become available. Finally, our approach can reveal unconventional frameshifting products that derive from the omission of several nucleotides by ribosomes (for example, +2 to +16 frameshifts). Regardless of whether such frameshifted products are parts of mosaic proteins, the potential for their detection makes this project very novel, because frameshifts longer than one nucleotide in the forward direction have not been described so far.

opencc-by-4.0May 2022View details →

Figure 5 in Tydeid species from domatia bearing plants from South Africa with the description of two new species of the genusAfridiolorryia (Acari: Tydeidae)

Figure 5 Afridiolorryia kwelerhaensis sp. n. Female. A – Leg I, B – Leg II, C – Empodial claw.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2021View details →

Text-fig. 1. Geological map of South Bohemian Basins. in Plant Mesofossils From The Late Cretaceous Klikov Formation, The Czech Republic

Text-fig. 1. Geological map of South Bohemian Basins.