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opencc-by-4.0Dec 2021View details →

DATASET: Temperature Differentially Influences the Capacity of Trichoderma Species to Induce Plant Defense Responses in Tomato Against Insect Pests

Species of the ecological opportunistic, avirulent fungus, Trichoderma are widely used in agriculture for their ability to protect crops from the attack of pathogenic fungi and for plant growth promotion activity. Recently, it has been shown that they may also have complementary properties that enhance plant defense barriers against insects. However, the use of these fungi is somewhat undermined by their variable level of biocontrol activity, which is influenced by environmental conditions. Understanding the source of this variability is essential for its profitable and wide use in plant protection. Here, we focus on the impact of temperature on Trichoderma afroharzianum T22, Trichoderma atroviride P1, and the defense response induced in tomato by insects. The in vitro development of these two strains was differentially influenced by temperature, and the observed pattern was consistent with temperature-dependent levels of resistance induced by them in tomato plants against the aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, and the noctuid moth, Spodoptera littoralis. Tomato plants treated with T. afroharzianum T22 exhibited enhanced resistance toward both insect pests at 25°C, while T. atroviride P1 proved to be more effective at 20°C. The comparison of plant transcriptomic profiles generated by the two Trichoderma species allowed the identification of specific defense genes involved in the observed response, and a selected group was used to assess, by real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR), the differential gene expression in Trichoderma-treated tomato plants subjected to the two temperature regimens that significantly affected fungal biological performance. These results will help pave the way toward a rational selection of the most suitable Trichoderma isolates for field applications, in order to best face the challenges imposed by local environmental conditions and by extreme climatic shifts due to global warming.

opencc-zeroApr 2023View details →

Stand biomass decreases towards the edge of a range expanding invasive plant, Mikania micrantha, but only on thick soil layers

During range expansion, invasive plants may evolve distinctive traits that make them rapidly occupy the suitable sites at the invasion front, but it is unknown how stand biomass (i.e., biomass production of dense monocultural stands, which may predict invasion speed and impacts) changes during range expansion, and if stand biomass is related to competitive ability. In this study, we examined how competitive ability against common intraspecific competitors and stand biomass when six plants from the same population were grown together change during range expansion, using 27 populations of the invasive Mikania micrantha on Hainan island of China. Competitive ability did not decrease towards the range edge. Stand biomass decreased towards the range edge in 11 L pots with a thick soil layer, but not in 3 L pots with a thin soil layer. Stand biomass was negatively correlated with root-to-shoot ratio in 3 L pots but not in 11 L pots. Stand biomass was unrelated to competitive ability. Our results indicate that edge populations of invasive M. micrantha may have reduced stand-level performance in habitats with thick soil layers. In habitats with shallow soil layers, populations may evolve greater allocation to roots and reduced stand-level performance.

opencc-zeroApr 2023View details →

Plant trait responses to variation in N and P availability

<ol> <li>Global change drivers such as eutrophication and plant invasions will create novel environments for many plant species. Through adaptive trait plasticity plants may maintain their performance under these novel conditions and may outcompete those showing low adaptive trait plasticity. In a greenhouse study, we determined if plasticity in traits is adaptive or maladaptive in endangered, non-endangered and invasive plant species in response to variation of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability (N:P ratios 1.7, 15 and 135) and whether plastic trait responses are adaptive and/or costly for fitness (i.e. biomass). </li> <li>Species choice comprised 17 species from three functional groups (legumes, non-legume forbs and grasses), either classified as endangered, non-endangered or invasive. After two months plants were harvested and nine traits related to carbon assimilation and nutrient uptake were measured (leaf area, SLA, LDMC, SPAD, RMR, root length, SRL, root surface area and PME activity).</li> <li> We found more traits responding plastically to variation in P than in N. Plasticity only created costs when P was varied. Plasticity in traits was mostly adaptively neutral towards fitness, with plasticity in three traits being similarly adaptive across all species groups: SPAD (as a measure of chlorophyll content, adaptive to N and P limitation), leaf area and root surface area (adaptive to P limitation). We found little differences in trait plasticity between endangered, non-endangered and invasive species. </li> <li> Synthesis. Along a gradient from N limitation, balanced N:P supply and P limitation we found that the type of fluctuating nutrient (i.e. if N or P is varied) is decisive for the adaptive value of a trait. Variation in P availability (from balanced supply to P limitation) created both a stronger reduction in fitness as well as created plasticity costs in more traits than variation in N availability (from balanced supply to N limitation). However, the patterns observed in our study may change if nutrient availability is altered, either by nutrient inputs or by a shift in nutrient availabilities, e.g. by decreasing N input as foreseen by European Legislation, but without simultaneously decreasing P input. </li> </ol>

opencc-zeroApr 2023View details →

2015/16 El Niño increased water demand and pushed plants from a Mesic tropical montane grassland beyond their hydraulic safety limits

In 2015/16, a strong El Niño event caused anomalously high temperatures and reduced precipitation resulting in Pantropical drought‐induced diebacks and wildfires. Although many studies have documented the El Niño impacts on tropical forests, little we know about its effects on tropical grasslands. Here, we investigated plant drought responses during and after the 2015/16 El Niño event (Jun 2016 to Aug 2017) in 12 species with contrasting drought strategies (tolerance, avoidance and escape) in a Brazilian tropical montane grassland. We tested if (1) the El Niño event induced meteorological drought anomalies, (2) the atmospheric and/or soil drought led to plant water stress and (3) plants showed signs of drought recovery. In contrast to other tropical areas, we found that the 2015/16 El Niño event did not strongly affect precipitation in our study site. However, it increased air temperature and vapour pressure deficit, thus pushing all grassland species, even the most drought‐tolerant ones, beyond their hydraulic safety margins during the dry season. Most species showed signs of drought recovery, returning to positive hydraulic margins in the wet season after the El Niño. However, the finding that all evaluated species, regardless of their drought‐response strategy, are already operating close to their hydraulic safe thresholds for stomatal closure and turgor loss suggests that this cool–humid tropical montane grassland is especially vulnerable to meteorological extremes exacerbated by the additive effects of El Niño and climate change.

Individual-plant selectivity by sheep in drylands scales-up at plant population level and controls the forage supply and its accessibility

Diet selectivity by domestic herbivores controls plant community structure and dynamics and may induce rangeland degradation, particularly in drylands. However, management decisions frequently ignore herbivore selectivity. Here, we studied how grass morphology controls sheep selectivity for individual plants, and how this selectivity interacts with grazing intensity to determine population plant-size distributions and the forage supply. In Patagonian steppes, we manipulated the plant morphology (size and standing-dead proportion) of three dominant grass species differentially preferred by sheep for four years. Then, we evaluated how these morphological alterations affected intra- and inter-specific preference patterns. We also evaluated how grazing intensity (ungrazed, moderate grazing, and intensive grazing) affected the plant-size distribution of the three species, the forage supply, and its accessibility. For the highly preferred species, herbivores selected plants that were either naturally or experimentally short, with low proportion of standing-dead biomass. In contrast, morphological changes did not alter the within-species selectivity of the least preferred species. Grazing intensity strongly changed the population plant-size distribution of preferred species in ways that resembled the experimental manipulations of morphology. Moderate grazing showed the greatest morphological heterogeneity among individuals. When integrating the green biomass of forage species' individuals at ecosystem level, we found that the forage supply was the highest in ungrazed sites and decreased as grazing intensity increased. However, considering the dissuading effect of the standing-dead proportion of plants, the accessible forage was the highest under moderate grazing. Synthesis and applications. Our findings (i) showed that, within preferred species, sheep selectivity at individual-plant level is controlled by morphological characteristics that determine accessibility to green high-quality biomass. This effect was as important as that of species identity; (ii) empirically proved plant-animal positive feedback at individual level; and (iii) revealed how the individual-plant selectivity scales-up at population level and controls the forage supply, but also its accessibility. Our complementary approach generates critical knowledge for developing management practices to control key forage species defoliation and to adjust the grazing pressure to the offer of accessible forage, avoiding the common carrying capacity overestimation. These aspects are essential for sustainable production in grazed drylands.

Traditional knowledge of wild plant species used in the southern part of Wadi Araba desert in South-West Jordan

This data set provides documentation of traditional knowledge of using native plants in the Wadi Araba desert. The uses for grazing, firewood, food, and medicine. The information was obtained using a survey.

Does a history of population co-occurrence predict plant performance, community productivity, or invasion resistance?

A history of species co-occurrence in plant communities is hypothesized to lead to greater niche differentiation, more efficient resource partitioning, and more productive, resistant communities as a result of evolution in response to biotic interactions. A similar question can be asked of co-occurring populations: do individual species or community responses differ when communities are founded with plants sharing a history of population co-occurrence (sympatric) or originating from different locations (allopatric)? Using shrub, grass, and forb species from six locations in the western Great Basin, USA, we compared establishment, productivity, reproduction, phenology, and resistance to invaders for experimental communities with either sympatric or allopatric population associations. Each community type was planted with six taxa in outdoor mesocosms, measured over three growing seasons, and invaded with the annual grass Bromus tectorum in the final season. For most populations, the allopatric or sympatric status of neighbors was not important. However, in some cases, it was beneficial for some species from some locations to be planted with allopatric neighbors, while others benefited from sympatric neighbors, and some of these responses had large effects. For instance, the Elymus population that benefited the most from allopatry grew 50% larger with allopatric neighbors than in single origin mesocosms. This response affected invasion resistance, as B. tectorum biomass was strongly affected by productivity and phenology of Elymus spp., as well as Poa secunda. Our results demonstrate that while community composition can affect plant performance in semi-arid plant communities, assembling communities from sympatric populations is not sufficient to ensure high productivity and invasion resistance. Instead, we observed an idiosyncratic interaction between sampling effects and evolutionary history, with the potential for seed source of individual populations to have community-level effects.

Tropical plant–hummingbird interactions withstand short-term experimental removal of a common flowering plant

In this study, we simulated the extirpation of a hummingbird-pollinated understory plant, Heliconia tortuosa, from tropical forest fragments using a replicated Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) experimental design while quantifying hummingbird space use, foral visitation rates, and plant pollination success. Each response variable was measured during each experimental period (pre and post) in sites with and without H. tortuosa removal (treatment and control).

Durable resistance or efficient disease control? Adult Plant Resistance (APR) at the heart of the dilemma [Dataset]

Dataset of simulation results used in this study (https://doi.org/10.24072/pcjournal.271): Durable resistance or efficient disease control? Adult Plant Resistance (APR) at the heart of the dilemma. published in Peer Community Journal.   All simulations are computed using the R package landsepi Package webpage: https://csiro-inra.pages.biosp.inrae.fr/landsepi/ To download the package: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/landsepi/index.html Raw data used for this study are stored in three folders corresponding to the three numerical experiments (APR_1, APR_2 and APR_3, respectively). Every folder includes: - an R script for the generation of a simulation plan - 10 folders containing simulation results for 10 stochastic replicates - an R script for the analysis of the results and generation of graphics Every folder containing the simulation results includes: - a text file "myDesign.txt" containing the simulation plan and outputs (1 line per simulation) - a text file "parameters.txt" containing a summary of all parameter values - a text file "param_disp_patho.txt" containing the dispersal matrix of the pathogen - a text file "param_landscape.txt" containing the landscape structure   (i.e. for every polygon [lines] and every year [columns] the index of the cultivated host)

The "Torre dei forni" of the Saceba cement plant in the "Gole della Breggia" park. ITA captions.

Video describing how the "Torre dei forni" building, as part of the Saceba cement plant in the "Gole della Breggia" park, worked to produce the cement. The video is produced in the framework of the Interreg IT-CH INSUBRIPARKS project. Captions in Italian.

Evolution of the Saceba cement plant in the "Gole della Breggia" park. ITA captions

Video describing the evolution of the Saceba cement plant in the "Gole della Breggia" park. The video is produced in the framework of the Interreg IT-CH INSUBRIPARKS project. Captions in Italian

Evolution of the Saceba cement plant in the "Gole della Breggia" park.

Video describing the evolution of the Saceba cement plant in the "Gole della Breggia" park.  The video is produced in the framework of the Interreg IT-CH INSUBRIPARKS project.

The "Torre dei forni" of the Saceba cement plant in the "Gole della Breggia" park.

Video describing how the "Torre dei forni" building, as part of the Saceba cement plant in the "Gole della Breggia" park, worked to produce the cement. The video is produced in the framework of the Interreg IT-CH INSUBRIPARKS project.

Data for: Complex cross incompatibility in morning glories is consistent with a role for mating system in plant speciation

Reproductive isolation between selfing and outcrossing species can arise through diverse mechanisms, some of which are directly associated with differences in mating system. We dissected cross incompatibility between the highly selfing morning glory Ipomoea lacunosa and its mixed-mating sister species I. cordatotriloba. We found that cross incompatibility is complex, with contributions acting both before and after fertilization. We then investigated whether the transition in mating system may have facilitated the evolution of these reproductive barrier components through mismatched floral morphology, differences in reproductive context, or both. We found evidence that morphological mismatch likely contributes to reproductive isolation in at least one cross direction and that other pollen-pistil interactions are present. We also identified hybrid seed inviability consistent with the predictions of the weak-inbreeder, strong-outbreeder hypotheses, suggesting endosperm misregulation plays an important role in cross incompatibility. In contrast, we did not find evidence consistent with the pre-zygotic weak-inbreeder, strong-outbreeder hypothesis. Our study highlights the complexity of reproductive isolation between outcrossing and selfing species and the extent to which evolutionary consequences of mating system transitions can facilitate speciation.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2021View details →

A novel proxy to examine interspecific phosphorus facilitation between plant species

Resource complementarity can contribute to enhanced ecosystem functioning in diverse plant communities, but the role of facilitation in the enhanced complementarity is poorly understood. Here, we use leaf manganese concentration ([Mn]) as a proxy for rhizosheath carboxylate concentration to explore novel mechanisms of complementarity mediated by phosphorus (P) facilitation. In pot experiments, we showed that mixtures involving Carex korshinskyi, an efficient P-mobilizing species, exhibited greater biomass and relative complementarity effect than combinations without C. korshinskyi on P-deficient soils. Compared with monocultures, leaf [Mn] and [P] of species that are inefficient at P mobilization increased by 27 and 21% when grown with C. korshinskyi (i.e. interspecific P facilitation via carboxylates) rather than next to another inefficient P-mobilizing species. This experimental result was supported by a meta-analysis including a range of efficient P-mobilizing species. Phosphorus facilitation enhanced the relative complementarity effect in low-P environments, related to a greater change in several facilitated species of their root morphological traits relative to those in monoculture. Using leaf [Mn] as a proxy, we highlight a vital mechanism of interspecific P facilitation via belowground processes and provide evidence for the pivotal role of P facilitation mediated by the plasticity of root traits in biodiversity research.

A dataset of nectar sugar production for flowering plants found in urban greenspaces

<ol> <li>Nectar and pollen are floral resources that provide food for insect pollinators, so quantifying their supplies can help us to understand and mitigate pollinator declines. However, most existing datasets of floral resource measurements focus on native plants found in rural landscapes, so cannot be used effectively for estimating supplies in urban green spaces, where non-native ornamental plants often predominate.</li> <li>We sampled floral nectar sugar in 225 plant taxa found in UK residential gardens and other urban green spaces, focussing on the most common species. The vast majority (94%) of our sampled taxa are non-native, filling an important research gap and ensuring these data are also relevant outside of the UK.</li> <li>Our dataset includes values of daily nectar sugar production for all 225 taxa and nectar sugar concentration for around half (102) of those sampled. Nectar extraction was conducted according to published methods, ensuring our values can be combined with other datasets.</li> <li>We anticipate that the two main uses of these data are (1) to estimate the nectar production of habitats and landscapes, and (2) to identify high-nectar plants of conservation importance. To increase the utility of our data we provide guidance for scaling nectar values up from single flowers to floral units, as is commonly done in field studies.</li> </ol>

Data from: Pollinators and plants as ecosystem engineers: post-dispersal fruits provide new habitats for other organisms

Ecosystem engineering consists of a ubiquitous and fundamental class of interactions where some organisms promote state changes in biotic and abiotic materials which indirectly affect others. Since the concept was created as a counterpoint to traditional flux-based models, pollinators have never been considered to promote ecosystem engineering because they modulate the supply of resources used by seed/fruit consumers. However, dry fruits may persist in the environment for long periods after seed dispersion as empty structures that are an additional alternative for occupancy. These increase the realized niche of some organisms, being a clear example of biogenic habitats. Here, we demonstrate how pollination may boost ecosystem engineering using an illustrative case study based on a specialized interaction between a bee and an orchid with characteristic capsular fruits. We demonstrate that the orchid is fully dependent on the pollinator to set fruits. Post-dispersal fruits are voluminous and remain attached to the plant for several years. By investigating the occupation patterns of arthropods, we show that post-dispersal fruits are highly suitable for occupants when compared to pre-dispersal and dispersing fruits. Only 13.3% of post-dispersal fruits were never occupied, 33.3% had organisms inside and 53.3% showed signs of previous occupation. We propose that pollinators are allogenic engineers and plants autogenic, since they promote state changes through their actions and their own physical structure, respectively. Thus, pollination is a case of cooperative ecosystem engineering whereby the effects of the interaction between two or more species expand habitat suitability. Since most plants rely on pollination to set fruits, we suggest that pollination-mediated engineering constitutes a widespread phenomenon. This offers a new perspective about the effects of pollination in nature, highlighting the importance of pollinators and opening new avenues of investigation of ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity maintenance.

Putative signals of generalist plant species adaptation to local pollinator communities and abiotic factors

The reproductive success of flowering plants with generalized pollination systems is influenced by the interactions with a diverse pollinator community and abiotic factors. However, knowledge about the adaptative potential of plants to complex ecological networks and the underlying genetic mechanisms is still limited. Based on a pool-sequencing approach of 21 natural populations of Brassica incana in Southern Italy, we combined a genome-environmental association analysis with a genome scan for signals of population genomic differentiation to discover genetic variants associated with ecological variation. We identified genomic regions putatively involved in the adaptation of B. incana to the identity of local pollinator functional categories and pollinator community composition. Interestingly, we observed several shared candidate genes associated with long-tongue bees, soil texture, and temperature variation. We established a genomic map of potential generalist flowering plant local adaptation to complex biotic interactions, and the importance of considering multiple environmental factors to describe the adaptive landscape of plant populations.

Eighteen-year nitrogen addition does not increase plant phosphorus demand in a nitrogen-saturated tropical forest

<ol> <li>Nitrogen (N) deposition usually increases plant tissue N concentrations and thus phosphorus (P) demand in young and/or N-limited forests, but the N-deposition effect on plant P demand has rarely been assessed in N-saturated forests.</li> <li>Impacts of 18-year external N additions (Control: 0, Low N: 50, Moderate N:100, and High N: 150 kg N ha-1 yr-1) on leaf P of four plant life-forms (tree, shrub, herb, and liana), P fractions of bulk and rhizosphere soils were examined in a N-saturated mature tropical forest in southern China. </li> <li>Leaf N, P, and N: P ratios of all plant life-forms remained stable under three N-additions. Among soil P fractions, moderate labile organic P increased by 25-33% across three N-additions; and soil total P was increased by 11.76 % under Low N, and 8.87% under High N, compared with the control. The PLS-PM results showed that the path coefficient of microbial community to available P significantly increased and of inorganic P to available P significantly decreased under N additions than control. N additions improved soil P availability through microbe-mediated P transformation: Low N significantly increased soil microbial taxonomic diversity, and a higher microbial diversity could enlarge the sources of nutrient acquisition and stimulate decomposition of recalcitrant organic matters; while High N significantly decreased soil microbial taxonomic diversity, the remaining microorganisms that were screened by N-rich environments had the characteristics of resisting the N-addition effects and maintained efficient P acquisition.</li> <li> Synthesis. Our findings provide a novel line of evidence that long-term N deposition did not increase plant P demand in a N-saturated mature tropical forest. The underlying mechanism is that plants did not increase N uptakes therefore nor increase P uptakes (a stable leaf N: P stoichiometry) in an already N-saturated ecosystem. Different N addition rates regulated soil P transformation via microbial community transition. These findings help improve the understanding of plant P acquisition and modeling of biogeochemical N-P cycling and vegetation productivity in N-rich forest ecosystems, particularly considering the fact that chronic N deposition may likely lead to soil N richness and even saturation of many forests in the future. </li> </ol>

Phytophthora in horticultural nursery green waste - a risk to plant health

This dataset on Zenodo accompanies the manuscript Schiffer-Forsyth et al. (2023), Phytophthora in horticultural nursery green waste – a risk to plant health. There are two files: <ul> <li>metadata.tsv - plain text table as tab-separated variables</li> <li>raw_data.tar.gz - compressed archive of 81 paired raw FASTQ files</li> </ul> This represents a complete Illumina MiSeq run, with the names of the unrelated samples redacted. To repeat the analysis described in the paper, first install THAPBI PICT. See <a href="https://github.com/peterjc/thapbi-pict/">https://github.com/peterjc/thapbi-pict/ </a>for instructions. At the time of the paper, v0.14.1 was the current release (with a near-identical v1.0.0 expected to be released shortly). Next, decompress the raw data into a folder of paired gzipped FASTQ files. There is no need to decompress those: <pre><code class="language-bash"> $ tar -zxvf raw_data.tar.gz $ ls -1 raw_data/</code></pre> If you wish, verify the checksums to confirm the data integrity: <pre><code class="language-bash"> $ cd raw_data/ $ md5sum -c MD5SUM.txt $ cd ..</code></pre> Setup output directories: <pre><code class="language-bash"> $ mkdir -p intermediate/ summary/</code></pre> You can run the analysis in one step. This should take under five minutes:   <pre><code class="language-bash">$ thapbi_pict pipeline -i raw_data/ \ -n raw_data/SynCtrl_*.fastq.gz \ -y raw_data/SynCtrl_*.fastq.gz \ -s intermediate/ -o summary/ \ -t metadata.tsv -x 3 -c 1,2,4,5</code></pre> The options here are as follows: <ul> <li>-i raw_data - input directory of paired raw FASTQ files.</li> <li>-n raw_data/SynCtrl_*.fastq.gz - negative controls used to increase the absolute abundance threshold</li> <li>-y raw_data/SynCtrl_*.fastq.gz - synthetic controls used to increase the fractional abundance threshold</li> <li>-s intermediate/ - optional location to store intermediate files</li> <li>-o summary/ - output location for reports</li> <li>-t metadata.tsv -x 3 -c 1,2,4,5 - show and sort on metadata columns 1, 2, 4 and 5 from metadata.tsv using column 3 to cross-reference the FASTQ filename stems (semi-colon separated lists for replicates).</li> </ul> This assumes the following key default settings: <ul> <li>-a 100 -f 0.001 - default absolute and fractional abundance thresholds</li> <li>-d - - default to the provided ITS1 database</li> </ul> With these settings, only synthetic sequences were found in the controls, and therefore the thresholds were not automatically increased any further. Note some of these options could change in future releases of the software, and in particular there would likely be additional Phytophthora species or sequences in future updates to the default database. Output file summary/ITS1.samples.onebp.xlsx (and .tsv) is equivalent to Table 2 (after pooling replicates, and applying human judgement to resolve ambiguous ITS1 markers shared by multiple species). Note P. austrocedri was identified in three samples, N2-Water_S2 and N2-Water_S22 described in this work, and a third sample REDACTED_S28 from another location.