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691 results for “plant traits”
Species interactions and plant traits of dune grasses in a burial experiment
A multi-factorial greenhouse experiment of three common dune grasses (Ammophila breviligulata, Uniola paniculata, and Spartina patens) in different interspecific combinations was performed, using sand burial and salinity sea spray as abiotic stressors. Sand burial (25 cm) was applied once at the beginning of the study. Sea spray was applied three times per week. Morphological measurements (leaf elongation, maximum root length, biomass, leaf C, N and isotopes) were collected after 12 weeks.
Supplementary material 1 from: Milanović M, Knapp S, Pyšek P, Kühn I (2020) Trait–environment relationships of plant species at different stages of the introduction process. NeoBiota 58: 55-74. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.58.51655
Tables S1, S2
Shortgrass steppe and northern mixedgrass prairie plant species traits
<p>Despite progress in trait-based ecology, there is limited understanding of the plant traits that structure semiarid grasslands. In particular, it remains unclear how traits that enable plants to cope with water limitation are related to traits that influence other key functions such as herbivore defense and growth. The hypothesis that drought and herbivory exert convergent selection pressures is supported for morphological traits, but largely untested for structural, physiological, and phenological traits. Drought and economic traits can also covary, but where and to what degree remains uncertain.</p> <p>Here we address these uncertainties in semiarid shortgrass steppe and mixedgrass prairie, the largest remaining grasslands in North America. Using a broad selection of traits for 37 of the most common plant species in each ecosystem, we ask whether traits that confer drought tolerance, avoidance and escape covary with herbivore resistance traits and economic traits.</p> <p>Results reveal that both drought tolerance and escape are coordinated with other functions, but in opposite fashion. Drought tolerant species (low leaf osmotic potential and high leaf dry matter content, LDMC) were also herbivore resistant (high leaf toughness and cellulose) and at the 'slow' end of the economic spectrum (low leaf nitrogen, leaf phosphorus, and high stem density). Conversely, drought escape via early senescence was associated with lower drought tolerance, lower herbivore resistance, and 'fast' economic traits. Drought avoidance, as indicated by thick leaves, may also be associated with lower drought tolerance (LDMC). Senescence date and LDMC appear to be key traits in these semiarid grasslands, differentiating species along multiple axes of function.</p> <p><i>Synthesis</i> – Covariation between drought, herbivory and economic traits means that, of the many potential trait combinations, few actually exist within these grasslands. Consequently, changes in land management and climate should have predictable effects on drought resistance, forage quality and productivity in the western Great Plains. </p>
Contemporary adaptive divergence of plant competitive traits in urban and rural populations and its implication for weed management
<p>1. Competition among neighboring plants plays essential roles in growth, reproduction, population dynamics, and community assembly, but how competition drives local adaptation and the traits underlying the adaptation remain unclear. Here, we focused on populations of the aggressive weed <i>Digitaria ciliaris</i> from urban and rural habitats as low- and high-competition environments for light resources and examined how competitive interaction drove contemporary adaptive divergence of competitive traits.</p> <p>2. To examine local adaptation to different competitive environments in <i>D. </i><i>ciliaris</i> and the specific traits that have been selected for, we compared growth rate and competitive traits in plants from farmland and urban populations between high- and low-competition treatments. Furthermore, we conducted a field tillage experiment with drone (UAV) monitoring to examine the possibility that trait evolution in farmland habitats might influence weed management practices in crop fields.</p> <p>3. Plants from farmland populations had higher growth rates than plants from urban populations in high-competition treatments, and vice versa in low-competition treatments. Among populations, those with larger height/width ratios (farmland populations) were more tolerant of aboveground competition in high-competition treatments, but among individuals, those with larger ratios had lower growth rates in low-competition treatments. More plants from farmland populations, which had thicker stems (and larger height/width ratios), survived after experimental tillage than plants from urban habitats with thinner stems.</p> <p>4. Synthesis. Our study empirically demonstrated adaptive divergence in competitive traits in aboveground competitors and its underlying traits. Moreover, contemporary adaptive divergence between urban and rural plant populations has practical implications for weed control. The urban–rural model system can thus contribute to both basic and applied research in plant evolutionary ecology. Further research is required to understand adaptive divergence in plants between urban and rural environments, and the traits underlying the adaptation, not only aboveground, but also belowground.</p>
Species diversity and biological trait function: Effectiveness of ant–plant mutualism decreases as ant species diversity increases
<p class="abstract">One of the major concerns of ecological and evolutionary research is the prediction of community function in relation to the degree of biodiversity. To clarify the relationship between biodiversity and the expression of plant defence traits, we investigated ant–plant defensive mutualism in the pioneer plant <i>Mallotus japonicus</i> at several sites across Japan. The plant bears ant-attracting extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) and food bodies (FBs) as indirect defence traits.</p> <p class="abstract">To reveal variations in ant–plant interactions in the field, we measured species richness of nectar-feeding ants and interaction strength between each ant species and the plant (visiting frequency of each ant species to the plant). We also investigated the expression of EFNs and FBs in natural plant populations at the study sites. To assess the defensive quality of each ant species, we then experimentally estimated the aggressiveness of the dominant ant species. To examine the link between ant species richness and the defensive function of ants, we conducted an ant-exclusion experiment and a common garden experiment to clarify whether the defence efficacy of ants varied in relation to ant species richness.</p> <p class="abstract">Ant species richness differed among the study sites. We found negative relationships between ant species richness and the mean interaction strength of ant species, the interaction strength of aggressive ant species, and the number of EFNs per leaf. The effectiveness of indirect defence by ants was poor at sites where ant species richness was high. When cultivated in the same environment, plants from sites with low ant species richness developed a larger number of EFNs per leaf than those from sites with high ant species richness.</p> <p class="abstract">Our results suggest that facultative ant–plant defensive mutualism is weakened at sites where ant species richness is high, resulting in a decrease in the number of EFNs per leaf. Such a link between species richness and an indirect trait function may help us to understand the evolutionary patterns of various species traits in complex biological communities.</p>
Data from: Climate, soil resources and microbial activity shape the distributions of mountain plants based on their functional traits
<p>While soil ecosystems undergo important modi cations due to global change, the e ect of soil properties on plant distributions is still poorly understood. Plant growth is not only controlled by soil physico-chemistry but also by microbial activities through the decomposition of organic matter and the recycling of nutrients essential for plants. A growing body of evidence also suggests that plant functional traits modulate spe- cies' response to environmental gradients. However, no study has yet contrasted the importance of soil physico-chemistry, microbial activities and climate on plant species distributions, while accounting for how plant functional traits can in uence species- speci c responses.</p> <p>Using hierarchical e ects in a multi-species distribution model, we investigate how<br> four functional traits related to resource acquisition (plant height, leaf carbon to nitro-<br> gen ratio, leaf dry matter content and speci c leaf area) modulate the response of<br> 44 plant species to climatic variables, soil physico-chemical properties and microbial 100 decomposition activity (i.e. exoenzymatic activities) in the French Alps.</p> <p>Our hierarchical trait-based model allowed to predict well 41 species according to the TSS statistic. In addition to climate, the combination of soil C/N, as a measure of organic matter quality, and exoenzymatic activity, as a measure of microbial decom- position activity, strongly improved predictions of plant distributions. Plant traits played an important role. In particular, species with conservative traits performed bet- ter under limiting nutrient conditions but were outcompeted by exploitative plants in more favorable environments.</p> <p>We demonstrate tight associations between microbial decomposition activity, plant functional traits associated to di erent resource acquisition strategies and plant dis- tributions. is highlights the importance of plant–soil linkages for mountain plant distributions. ese results are crucial for biodiversity modelling in a world where both climatic and soil systems are undergoing profound and rapid transformations.</p>
Host plant defense produces species-specific alterations to flight muscle protein structure and flight-related fitness traits of two armyworms
<p>Insects manifest phenotypic plasticity in their development and behavior in response to plant defenses, via molecular mechanisms that produce tissue-specific changes. Phenotypic changes might vary between species that differ in their preferred hosts and these effects could extend beyond larval stages. To test this, we manipulated the diet of southern armyworm (SAW; Spodoptera eridania) and fall armyworm (FAW; Spodoptera frugiperda) using a tomatomutant for jasmonic acid plant defense pathway (def1), and wild-type plants, and then quantified gene expression of Troponin t (Tnt) and flight muscle metabolism of the<br> adult insects. Differences in Tnt spliceform ratios in insect flight muscles correlate with changes to flight muscle metabolism and flight<br> muscle output. We found that SAW adults reared on induced def1 plants had a higher relative abundance (RA) of the A isoform of Troponin t (Tnt A) in their flight muscles; in contrast, FAW adults reared on induced def1 plants had a lower RA of Tnt A in their flight muscles compared with adults reared on def1 and controls. Although massadjusted flightmetabolic rate showed no independent host plant effects in either species, higher flight metabolic rates in SAW correlated with increased RA of Tnt A. Flight muscle metabolism also showed an interaction of host plants with Tnt A in both species, suggesting that host plants might be influencing flight muscle metabolic output by altering Tnt. This study illustrates how insects respond to variation in host plant chemical defense by phenotypic modifications to their flight muscle proteins, with possible implications for dispersal.</p>
Estimating individual level plant traits at scale
<p>Derived prediction of traits for ~5 million trees at two NEON sites (OSBS and TALL)</p>
Test set - 4023 PubMed abstracts (for manuscript: Extracting knowledge networks from plant scientific literature: Potato tuber flesh color as an exemplary trait )
<p>A .zip archive containing the set of abstracts used in the test set (4023 abstracts from PubMed) in .txt format.</p> <p>This archive contains supplementary files for the manuscript Extracting knowledge networks from plant scientific literature: Potato tuber flesh color as an exemplary trait.</p>
Supplementary material 2 from: Bustamante RO, Alves L, Goncalves E, Duarte M, Herrera I (2020) A classification system for predicting invasiveness using climatic niche traits and global distribution models: application to alien plant species in Chile. NeoBiota 63: 127-146. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.63.50049
Table S2. Basic information obtained for 49 exotic plants in Chile
Supplementary material 3 from: Bustamante RO, Alves L, Goncalves E, Duarte M, Herrera I (2020) A classification system for predicting invasiveness using climatic niche traits and global distribution models: application to alien plant species in Chile. NeoBiota 63: 127-146. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.63.50049
Map of the species
Data from: Herbivore effect traits and their impact on plant community biomass: an experimental test using grasshoppers
1. Using trait-based approaches to study trophic interactions may represent one of the most promising approaches to evaluate the impact of trophic interactions on ecosystem functioning. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to clearly identify which traits determine the impact of one trophic level on another. 2. Using functionally contrasting grasshopper species, we tested the ability of multiple traits (morphological, chemical and biomechanical) to predict herbivore impact on the biomass of a diverse plant community. We set up a cage experiment in an old species rich grassland field and evaluated how multiple candidate grasshopper effect traits mediated herbivore impact on plant biomass. 3. Grasshoppers had different impact on plant community biomass (consuming up to 60 % of plant community biomass). Grasshopper impact was positively correlated with their incisive strength while body size or grasshopper C:N ratio exhibited low predictive ability. Importantly, the strong relationship between the incisive strength and the impact was mediated by the grasshopper feeding niche, which was well predicted in our study by two simple plant traits (leaf dry matter content, leaf C:N ratio). Feeding niche differences between grasshoppers were explained by differences in incisive strength, highlighting the fundamental linkage between grasshopper effect traits and their niche. 4. Our study contributes to the development of the trait-based approach in the study of trophic interactions by providing a first experimental test of the relationship between herbivore effect traits, their impact on plant community biomass, and in a larger extent on ecosystem functioning. By comparing the relative importance of multiple interacting grasshopper traits, our study showed that incisive strength was a key effect trait which determined grasshopper feeding niche and its relative impact on plant community biomass.
Data from: Relaxation of herbivore-mediated selection drives the evolution of genetic covariances between plant competitive and defense traits
Insect herbivores are important mediators of selection on traits that impact plant defense against herbivory and competitive ability. Although recent experiments demonstrate a central role for herbivory in driving rapid evolution of defense and competition-mediating traits, whether and how herbivory shapes heritable variation in these traits remains poorly understood. Here, we evaluate the structure and evolutionary stability of the G matrix for plant metabolites that are involved in defense and allelopathy in the tall goldenrod, Solidago altissima. We show that G has evolutionarily diverged between experimentally-replicated populations that evolved in the presence versus the absence of ambient herbivory, providing direct evidence for the evolution of G by natural selection. Specifically, evolution in an herbivore-free habitat altered the orientation of G, revealing a negative genetic covariation between defense- and competition-related metabolites that is typically masked in herbivore-exposed populations. Our results may be explained by predictions of classical quantitative genetic theory, as well as the theory of acquisition-allocation trade-offs. The study provides compelling evidence that herbivory drives the evolution of plant genetic architecture.
Data from: Functional traits explain variation in plant life history strategies
Ecologists seek general explanations for the dramatic variation in species abundances in space and time. An increasingly popular solution is to predict species distributions, dynamics and responses to environmental change based on easily measured anatomical and morphological traits. Trait-based approaches assume that simple functional traits influence fitness and life history evolution, but rigorous tests of this assumption are lacking because they require quantitative information about the full life-cycles of many species representing different life histories. Here we link a global traits database with empirical matrix population models for 222 species and report strong relationships between functional traits and plant life histories. Species with large seeds, long-lived leaves, or dense wood have slow life histories, with mean fitness (i.e. population growth rates) more strongly influenced by survival than by growth or fecundity, compared to fast life history species with small seeds, short-lived leaves, or soft wood. In contrast to measures of demographic contributions to fitness based on whole life-cycles, analyses focused on raw demographic rates may underestimate the strength of association between traits and mean fitness. Our results help establish the physiological basis for plant life history evolution and show the potential for trait-based approaches in population dynamics.
Data from: Genome-wide association study in Arabidopsis thaliana of natural variation in seed oil melting point, a widespread adaptive trait in plants
Seed oil melting point is an adaptive, quantitative trait determined by the relative proportions of the fatty acids that compose the oil. Micro- and macro-evolutionary evidence suggests selection has changed the melting point of seed oils to covary with germination temperatures because of a trade-off between total energy stores and the rate of energy acquisition during germination under competition. The seed oil compositions of 391 natural accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana, grown under common-garden conditions, were used to assess whether seed oil melting point within a species varied with germination temperature. In support of the adaptive explanation, long-term monthly spring and fall field temperatures of the accession collection sites significantly predicted their seed oil melting points. In addition, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed to determine which genes were most likely responsible for the natural variation in seed oil melting point. The GWAS found a single highly significant association within the coding region of FAD2, which encodes a fatty acid desaturase central to the oil biosynthesis pathway. In a separate analysis of fifteen a priori oil synthesis candidate genes, two (FAD2 and FATB) were located near significant SNPs associated with seed oil melting point. These results comport with others' molecular work showing that lines with alterations in these genes affect seed oil melting point as expected. Our results suggest natural selection has acted on a small number of loci to alter a quantitative trait in response to local environmental conditions.
Data from: Effects of plant and pollinator traits on the maintenance of a food deceptive species within a plant community
Model-mimic plant systems are well known. However, the conditions promoting the existence of such systems are still an enigma. We suggest that by focusing on floral similarity between model and mimic, reward levels offered by models, and pollinators' ability to adjust foraging accordingly, the conditions can be better understood. Using spatially-explicit modelling, we examined trait combinations that lead to the survival of deceptive species under a large range of mimic strategies, from Batesian mimicry to general food deception. Unlike previous models studying such systems, we examined model-mimic interactions in the presence of a third, dissimilar species, thus generating a more realistic scenario where pollinators may avoid the model-mimic system altogether. Results showed that overall survival and abundance of species in food deceptive systems depend on the relative reward provided by the participating species and the potential alternatives available. Specifically, the success of a mimic in a Batesian mimicry system depends on high levels of reward provided by its model species relative to potential alternatives in the flower community. On the other hand, the success of a mimic in a general food deception system was higher when the reward offered was lower. Our study suggests that the ability of pollinators to utilize their experience as part of decision-making is highly relevant in promoting mimic survival, thus shedding light on the conditions under which food deception is expected.
Data from: Functional trait differences and trait plasticity mediate biotic resistance to potential plant invaders
1. Biotic resistance represents an important natural barrier to potential invaders throughout the world, yet the underlying mechanisms that drive such resistance are still debated. In theory, native communities should repel both functionally similar invaders which compete for the same resources, and invaders which possess less competitive traits. However, environmental stress, trade-offs across vital rates and competition-induced plastic trait shifts may modify expected competitive outcomes, thereby influencing invasion dynamics. 2. In order to test these theoretical links between trait distributions and biotic resistance, we performed a mesocosm experiment with 25 non-native ornamental species invading native plant communities. Each non-native species was grown with and without the native community under two watering treatments (regular and reduced). We measured biotic resistance as the difference in performance of non-native individuals grown with and without the community in terms of their survival, growth and reproduction. We quantified overall functional dissimilarity between non-native ornamental individuals and native communities based on the combination of plant height, specific leaf area and seed mass. Then, assuming each of these traits is also potentially linked to competitive ability, we measured the position of non-natives on trait hierarchies. While height is positively correlated with competitive ability for light interception, conservative leaf and seed characteristics provide greater tolerance to competition for other resources. Finally, we quantified plastic trait shifts of non-native individuals induced by competition. 3. Indeed, the native community repelled functionally similar individuals by lowering their survival rate. Simultaneously, shorter ornamental individuals with larger specific leaf areas were less tolerant to biotic resistance from the community across vital rates, although the effect of trait hierarchies often depended on watering conditions. Finally, non-natives responded to competition by shifting their traits. Most importantly, individuals with more competitive traits were able to overcome biotic resistance also through competition-induced plastic trait shifts. 4. Synthesis. Our results highlight that both functional dissimilarity and trait hierarchies mediate biotic resistance to ornamental plant invaders. Nevertheless, environmental stress as well as opposing trends across vital rates are also influential. Furthermore, plastic trait shifts can reinforce potential invaders' competitive superiority, determining a positive feedback.
Data from: Linkage of plant trait space to successional age and species richness in boreal forest understory vegetation
Determining the changes in within- and between-species functional diversity in plant communities, and their contribution to overall species trait overlap, can enhance efforts at understanding mechanisms of species coexistence. However, little is known about how variation in species functional diversity influences variation in species trait overlap among contrasting environments. Here, we studied the understorey vegetation in a well-characterized 5000-year-old chronosequence involving 30 forested islands that differ greatly in size, soil fertility, and species diversity. Across this chronosequence we expected consistent changes in both within- and between-species functional diversity that would lead to decreasing overall species trait overlap with increasing successional age, species richness, understorey vegetation density and spatial heterogeneity of soil resources. For each island we measured specific leaf area (SLA) of each of ten individuals of each plant species present. Using a variance decomposition method, we partitioned the total community functional diversity of SLA on each island into within- and between-species functional diversity. Further, we estimated overall species trait overlap as the ratio of within-species functional diversity to total functional diversity. Using regression analyses we then explored relationships of within- and between-species functional diversity, and of overall species trait overlap, with several environmental variables across the 30 islands. Consistent with our hypotheses, overall species trait overlap decreased with successional age due to a statistically significant decrease in within-species functional diversity, and decreased with species richness due to a simultaneous decrease in within-species functional diversity and increase in between-species functional diversity. Against our predictions, overall species trait overlap increased in more competitive environments and did not change with increasing spatial heterogeneity of soil N or P. Synthesis: Our study suggests niche packing as a key mechanism for species coexistence in plant communities. Using SLA as an integrator of plant ecological strategy we show that community successional age and species richness are significantly linked to trait space distribution of plant individuals of boreal forest understorey vegetation and therefore to local species coexistence. Our results also suggest that the trait space of dominant and subordinate species may respond differently to local environmental variables.
Data from: Trait-based modeling of multi-host pathogen transmission: plant-pollinator networks
Epidemiological models for multi-host pathogen systems often classify individuals taxonomically and use species-specific parameter values, but in species-rich communities, that approach may require intractably many parameters. Trait-based epidemiological models offer a potential solution, but have not accounted for within-species trait variation or between-species trait overlap. Here, we propose and study trait-based models with host and vector communities represented as trait distributions without regard to species identity. To illustrate this approach, we develop SIS models for disease spread in plant-pollinator networks with continuous trait distributions. We model trait-dependent contact rates in two common scenarios: nested networks, and specialized plant-pollinator interactions based on trait matching. We find that disease spread in plant-pollinator networks is impacted the most by selective pollinators, universally attractive flowers, and co-specialized plant-pollinator pairs. When extreme pollinator traits are rare, pollinators with common traits are most important for disease spread, whereas when extreme flower traits are rare, flowers with uncommon traits impact disease spread the most. Greater nestedness and specialization both typically promote disease persistence. Given recent pollinator declines caused in part by pathogens, we discuss how trait-based models could inform conservation strategies for wild and managed pollinators. Furthermore, while we have applied our model to pollinators and pathogens, its framework is general and can be transferred to any kind of species interactions, in any community.
Plant functional traits differ in adaptability and are predicted to be differentially affected by climate change
<p>1. Climate change is testing the resilience of forests worldwide pushing physiological tolerance to climatic extremes. Plant functional traits have been shown to be adapted to climate, and have evolved patterns of trait correlations (similar patterns of distribution) and coordinations (mechanistic trade-off). We predicted that traits would differentiate between populations associated with climatic gradients, suggestive of adaptive variation, and correlated traits would adapt to future climate scenarios in similar ways. 2. We measured genetically determined trait variation and described patterns of correlation for seven traits: photochemical reflectance index (PRI), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), leaf size (LS), specific leaf area (SLA), δ<sup>13</sup>C (integrated water use efficiency, WUE), nitrogen concentration (N<sub>CONC</sub>), and wood density (WD). All measures were conducted in an experimental plantation on 960 trees sourced from 12 populations of a key forest canopy species in southwestern Australia. 3. Significant differences were found between populations for all traits. Narrow-sense heritability was significant for five traits (0.15 to 0.21), indicating that natural selection can drive differentiation; however, SLA (0.08) and PRI (0.11) were not significantly heritable. Generalised additive models predicted trait values across the landscape for current and future climatic conditions (>90% variance). The percent change differed markedly among traits between current and future predictions (differing as little as 1.5% (δ13C) or as much as 30% (PRI)). Some trait correlations were predicted to break down in the future (SLA:N<sub>CONC</sub>, δ<sup>13</sup>C:PRI, and N<sub>CONC</sub>:WD). 4. Synthesis: Our results suggest that traits have contrasting genotypic patterns and will be subjected to different climate selection pressures, which may lower the working optimum for functional traits. Further, traits are independently associated with different climate factors, indicating that some trait correlations may be disrupted in the future. Genetic constraints and trait correlations may limit the ability for functional traits to adapt to climate change.</p>
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Allen Brain Atlas
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Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
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