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114 results for “plant facilitation”
Data from: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi equalize differences in plant fitness and facilitate plant species coexistence through niche differentiation
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Widespread recombination suppression facilitates plant sex chromosome evolution
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Data from: Facilitated exploitation of pollination mutualisms: fitness consequences for plants
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Data from: Chemical novelty facilitates herbivore resistance and biological invasions in some introduced plant species
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Uranium accumulation in Brassica juncea plant facilitated by calcium in carbonate water
The role of calcium (Ca) on the cellular distribution of U(VI) in Brassica juncea roots and root-to-shoot translocation was investigated using hydroponic experiments, microscopy, and spectroscopy. Uranium accumulated mainly in the roots (727−9376 mg kg−1) after 30 days of exposure to 80 μM dissolved U in water containing 1 mM HCO3 − at different Ca concentrations (0−6 mM) at pH 7.5. However, the concentration of U in the shoots increased 22 times in experiments with 6 mM Ca compared to 0 mM Ca. In the Ca control experiment, transmission electron microscopy−energy-dispersive spectroscopy analyses detected U−P-bearing precipitates in the cortical apoplast of parenchyma cells. In experiments with 0.3 mM Ca, U−P-bearing precipitates were detected in the cortical apoplast and the bordered pits of xylem cells. In experiments with 6 mM Ca, U−P-bearing precipitates aggregated in the xylem with no apoplastic precipitation. These results indicate that Ca in carbonate water inhibits the transport and precipitation of U in the root cortical apoplast and facilitates the symplastic transport and translocation toward shoots. These findings reveal the considerable role of Ca in the presence of carbonate in facilitating the transport of U in plants and present new insights for future assessment and phytoremediation strategies.
Data from: Can facilitation influence the spatial genetics of the beneficiary plant population?
Plant facilitation is a positive interaction where a nurse or nurse plant community alters the local conditions, improving the life-time fitness of other beneficiary plants. In stressful environments, a common consequence is the formation of discrete vegetation patches under nurse plants, surrounded by open space. The consequences of such spatial patterns have been studied mostly at the community level. At the population level, facilitation causes a distribution of beneficiary individuals that could have intra-specific genetic consequences. The spatial patchiness and the increase in local aggregation can potentially affect the population fine-scale genetic structure. In addition, marked microenvironmental differences under nurses versus outside could lead to plastic phenotypic variation between facilitated and non-facilitated individuals, as for example reproductive asynchrony, potentially producing assortative mating. This study tests the hypothesis that plant facilitation can have genetic consequences for the population of a beneficiary plant (Euphorbia nicaeensis) by affecting its spatial genetic structure and mating patterns between subpopulations of facilitated and non-facilitated individuals. Facilitation in this system creates an aggregated distribution of beneficiary individuals compared to a minority of non-facilitated individuals that grow on the open ground. Facilitation also leads to slight phenological differences mediated by strong microenvironmental differences created by nurses compared to the open ground. Yet a molecular analysis showed that, although there is fine scale spatial genetic structure in this system, there is no evidence that it is caused by facilitation. Numerical simulations further showed that spatial genetic patterns in the population are little influenced by the phenological mismatch observed in the field. Synthesis. Facilitation leads to the strong spatial aggregation of beneficiary plants and desynchronizes their flowering phenology, but the magnitude of these effects is not enough to have local genetic consequences in our study system. Facilitation seems thus to have a homogenizing role by allowing the persistence of a diverse gene pool in populations in harsh environments, rather than fomenting genetic differentiation. Further information on other systems where facilitation produces stronger spatial or phenological effects on facilitated plants is needed to fill the large knowledge gap we have on the genetic effects of facilitation.
Data from: Nurse species and indirect facilitation through grazing drive plant community functional traits in tropical alpine peatlands
Facilitation among plants mediated by grazers occurs when an unpalatable plant extends its protection against grazing to another plant. This type of indirect facilitation impacts species coexistence and ecosystem functioning in a large array of ecosystems worldwide. It has nonetheless generally been understudied so far in comparison with the role played by direct facilitation among plants. We aimed at providing original data on indirect facilitation at the community scale to determine the extent to which indirect facilitation mediated by grazers can shape plant communities. Such experimental data are expected to contribute to refining the conceptual framework on plant–plant–herbivore interactions in stressful environments. We set up a 2-year grazing exclusion experiment in tropical alpine peatlands in Bolivia. Those ecosystems depend entirely on a few, structuring cushion-forming plants (hereafter referred to as "nurse" species), in which associated plant communities develop. Fences have been set over two nurse species with different strategies to cope with grazing (direct vs. indirect defenses), which are expected to lead to different intensities of indirect facilitation for the associated communities. We collected functional traits which are known to vary according to grazing pressure (LDMC, leaf thickness, and maximum height), on both the nurse and their associated plant communities in grazed (and therefore indirect facilitation as well) and ungrazed conditions. We found that the effect of indirectly facilitated on the associated plant communities depended on the functional trait considered. Indirect facilitation decreased the effects of grazing on species relative abundance, mean LDMC, and the convergence of the maximum height distribution of the associated communities, but did not affect mean height or cover. The identity of the nurse species and grazing jointly affected the structure of the associated plant community through indirect facilitation. Our results together with the existing literature suggest that the "grazer–nurse–beneficiary" interaction module can be more complex than expected when evaluated in the field.
Data from: The shift from plant–plant facilitation to competition under severe water deficit is spatially explicit
The stress-gradient hypothesis predicts a higher frequency of facilitative interactions as resource limitation increases. Under severe resource limitation, it has been suggested that facilitation may revert to competition, and identifying the presence as well as determining the magnitude of this shift is important for predicting the effect of climate change on biodiversity and plant community dynamics. In this study, we perform a meta-analysis to compare temporal differences of species diversity and productivity under a nurse plant (Retama sphaerocarpa) with varying annual rainfall quantity to test the effect of water limitation on facilitation. Furthermore, we assess spatial differences in the herbaceous community under nurse plants in situ during a year with below-average rainfall. We found evidence that severe rainfall deficit reduced species diversity and plant productivity under nurse plants relative to open areas. Our results indicate that the switch from facilitation to competition in response to rainfall quantity is nonlinear. The magnitude of this switch depended on the aspect around the nurse plant. Hotter south aspects under nurse plants resulted in negative effects on beneficiary species, while the north aspect still showed facilitation. Combined, these results emphasize the importance of spatial heterogeneity under nurse plants for mediating species loss under reduced precipitation, as predicted by future climate change scenarios. However, the decreased water availability expected under climate change will likely reduce overall facilitation and limit the role of nurse plants as refugia, amplifying biodiversity loss.
Data from: Extreme drought stress shifts net facilitation to neutral interactions between shrubs and sub-canopy plants in an arid desert
The stress gradient hypothesis (SGH) predicts that the importance or intensity of competition and facilitation will change inversely along abiotic stress gradients. It was originally postulated that increasing environmental stress can induce a monotonic increase in facilitation. However, more recent models predicted that the relationship between severity and interaction exhibits a hump-shaped pattern, in which positive interactions prevail under moderate stress but decline at the extreme ends of stress gradients. In the present study, we conducted a field experiment along a temporal rainfall gradient for five consecutive years, in order to investigate interactions in a shrub-herbaceous plant community at the southern edge of the Badain Jaran Desert, and, more specifically, investigated the effects of Calligonum mongolicum, a dominant shrub species, on both abiotic environmental variables and the performance of sub-canopy plant species. We found that shrubs can improve sub-canopy water regimes, soil properties, plant biomass, density, cover, and richness and, more importantly, that the positive effect of shrubs on sub-canopy soil moisture during the summer diminishes as rainfall decreases, a pattern that partly explains the collapse of the positive interaction between shrubs and their understory plants. These results provide empirical evidence that the positive effect of shrubs on understory plant communities in extreme arid environments may decline and become neutral with increasing drought stress.
Data from: Cushion plant morphology controls biogenic capability and facilitation effects of Silene acaulis along an elevation gradient
The stress-gradient hypothesis (SGH) predicts that the balance of plant–plant interactions shifts along abiotic environmental gradients, with facilitation becoming more frequent under stressful conditions. However, recent studies have challenged this perspective, reporting that positive interactions are, in some cases, more common at the intermediate level of environmental severity gradients. Here, we test whether and how neighbour effects by Silene acaulis cushions vary along a 700 m wide altitudinal transect, in relation to cushion morphological traits and environmental severity. Field measurements along the gradient, within and outside cushions, included (i) species richness and cover of coexisting vascular plants; (ii) cushion morphology; (iii) above- and below-ground microclimate; and (iv) soil quality. We used the relative interaction index to decouple neighbour trait effects and environmental severity effects on plant diversity at different elevations. The ability of the cushion plant to facilitate heterospecifics shifts considerably along the elevation gradient, being greatest at the intermediate level. On the other hand, Silene morphological traits steadily change along the gradient, from lax, soft and flat-shaped cushion habits at low elevation to tightly knit and dome-shaped habits at high elevation. Cushion morphological changes are associated with mitigating effects on microclimate, indicating that cushions effectively act as a heat-trap at medium and high elevations, while at low elevations the soft and flat cushions avoid excessive heat accumulation by tight coupling with the surrounding atmosphere. At the upper end of the gradient, cushion cespitose–pulvinate compactness and high stem density appear to be critical traits in modulating the net effect of plant–plant interaction, since the space available for hosting other vascular species is considerably reduced. In conclusion, this work provides a mechanistic link between plant morphological traits, associated biogenic microclimate changes and variation in net plant–plant interactions along the explored severity gradient. Our findings support an alternative conceptual model to SGH, with plant facilitation collapsing at the upper extreme of the abiotic stress gradient.
Data from: Rapid adaptation to climate facilitates range expansion of an invasive plant
Adaptation to climate, evolving over contemporary time scales, could facilitate rapid range expansion across environmental gradients. Here, we examine local adaptation along a climatic gradient in the North American invasive plant Lythrum salicaria. We show that the evolution of earlier flowering is adaptive at the northern invasion front where it increases fitness as much as, or more than, the effects of enemy release and the evolution of increased competitive ability. However, early flowering decreases investment in vegetative growth, which reduces fitness by a factor of 3 in southern environments where the North American invasion commenced. Our results demonstrate that local adaptation can evolve quickly during range expansion, overcoming environmental constraints on propagule production.
Data from: A native parasitic plant and soil microorganisms facilitate a native plant co-occurrence with an invasive plant
Invasive plants often interact with antagonists that include native parasitic plants and pathogenic soil microbes, which may reduce fitness of the invaders. However, to date, most of the studies on the ecological consequences of antagonistic interactions between invasive plants and the resident biota focused only on pairwise interactions. A full understanding of invasion dynamics requires studies that test the effects of multiple antagonists on fitness of invasive plants and co-occurring native plants. Here, we used an invasive plant Mikania micrantha, a co-occurring native plant Coix lacryma-jobi, and a native holoparasitic plant Cuscuta campestris to test whether parasitism on M. micrantha interacts with soil fungi and bacteria to reduce fitness of the invader and promote growth of the co-occurring native plant. In a factorial set up, M. micrantha and C. lacryma-jobi were grown together in pots in the presence versus absence of parasitism on M. micrantha by C. campestris, and in the presence versus absence of full complements of soil bacteria and fungi. Fungicide and bactericide were used to suppress soil fungi and bacteria, respectively. Findings show that heavy parasitism by C. campestris caused the greatest reduction in M. micrantha biomass when soil fungi and bacteria were suppressed. In contrast, the co-occurring native plant C. lacryma-jobi experienced the greatest increase in biomass when grown with heavily parasitized M. micrantha and in the presence of a full complement of soil fungi and bacteria. Taken together, our results suggest that selective parasitism on susceptible invasive plants by native parasitic plants and soil microorganisms may diminish competitive ability of invasive plants and facilitate native plant co-existence with invasive plants.
Data from: Facilitation consequences for reproduction of the benefactor cushion plant Laretia acaulis along an elevational gradient: costs or benefits?
Environmental stress may favour facilitative interactions among plants but whether these interactions are positive for the benefactor and how this depends on stress factors, remains to be determined. We studied the effect of beneficiary cover and biomass on reproduction of the benefactor cushion plant Laretia acaulis (Apiaceae) in the central Chilean Andes during three years. Study sites were situated along an elevational gradient at 2600, 2800, 3000 and 3150 m a.s.l. This range comprises a cold- and a drought-stress gradient, with moisture increasing and temperature decreasing with elevation. We studied the effect of natural gradients in beneficiary cover and of experimental cover removal on cushion flower and fruit production. Beneficiary cover had a negative effect on flower production but not on infructescence and fruit densities or fruit weights. A positive effect of beneficiaries on the fraction of flowers converted into fruits was detected for hermaphrodite cushions. The effect of beneficiary cover on flowering was independent of elevation or cushion gender, although these latter factors explained most of the variation. Removing the aboveground parts of the beneficiaries positively affected flowering at 2800 m a.s.l. but not at the other elevations. Our results suggest negative effects of facilitation on L. acaulis flowering, but these are neutralized in fruit production. Surprisingly, this conclusion holds along the entire elevational or stress gradient. This suggests that this system of facilitation is evolutionarily stable and not very sensitive to environmental change. It remains to be tested, however, whether facilitation affects fitness via growth and long-term survival in these slow-growing alpine cushions.
Introduced plants induce outbreaks of a native pest and facilitate invasion in the plants' native range: Evidence from the emerald ash borer
<p>1. Biological invasions are among the most serious threats to native forest ecosystems worldwide due to ever-increasing international trade and global change. Understanding the invasion processes and ecology of invasive pests in both newly invaded and native habitats is necessary to effectively manage the risks they pose. 2. The emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis, is one of the most devastating invasive forest insect pests in North America and has also invaded European Russia and parts of Europe. Through synthesizing historical data spanning >100 years and contemporary field observations in China, we examined EAB's distribution, occurrence, and outbreak frequency in its native range in relation to historical introductions and plantings of non-Asian ash trees in China. 3. The frequencies and levels of EAB infestations in China gradually increased from 1900 to 2021 after a time-lag of 30-50 years following introductions and widespread plantings of non-Asian ash trees from North America. Increased frequencies of EAB outbreaks following the planting of North American ash trees in China may have increased the risk of EAB invading North America and other novel regions. 4. Synthesis. Our findings demonstrated that planting susceptible non-native host plants can induce outbreaks of a native insect pest in its native range, which in turn may enhance risks of invading novel regions via human-assisted activities (e.g., international trade). In addition, our findings suggest that lag-times of several decades between planting susceptible hosts and initial pest outbreaks may pose challenges in predicting the true risk of invading novel regions. Consequently, comprehensive risk assessment for invasive insect pests should consider the role of non-native plants introduced or planted in the pest's native range.</p>
Large herbivores facilitate a dominant grassland plant via multiple indirect effects
<p>While large herbivores are critically important components of terrestrial ecosystems and can have pronounced top-down effects on plants, our understanding of the underlying mechanisms driving these effects remains incomplete. Large herbivores can alter plant growth, reproduction and abundance through direct effects (predominantly consumption) and through indirect effects via altered interactions with abiotic factors and other species. We know considerably less about these indirect effects than the direct effects. Here, we integrate medium- and small-scale field experiments to investigate how a large vertebrate herbivore, cattle (<i>Bos taurus</i>), affects the aboveground biomass of a dominant forb species, <i>Artemisia scoparia</i>, via diverse direct and indirect pathways in a temperate grassland in northeast China. Although cattle consumed this forb, its biomass increased significantly in response to grazing, due to multiple indirect positive effects that outweighed the direct negative effects of consumption. Cattle preferentially consumed the competing grass <i>Leymus chinensis</i>, and altered <i>Artemisia</i> microhabitats by reducing total plant cover and litter biomass and by increasing the abundance of co-occurring ant species (e.g., <i><span>Formica </span></i>spp. and <i>Lasius </i>spp.). This led to additional indirect positive effects on <i>A. scoparia</i> likely due to 1) increased light availability in understory layers and other limiting resources (e.g., soil nutrients and moisture) caused by removal of competitors and plant litter at the soil surface and 2) the changes in resource availability (e.g., soil nutrients and moisture) associated with ant colonies. Our results show that large herbivores can affect plant growth not only via direct consumption, but also via multiple indirect effects. Focusing on the causes and consequences of herbivore-induced indirect effects will not only help us to better understand the influence of these animals in ecological systems, but will also lead to more effective land management and conservation practices in the regions they inhabit.</p>
Dataset for the manuscript: Phylogenetic and functional constraints of plant facilitation rewiring. ECOLOGY
<p>The following directory contains the data necessary to replicate the results obtained in the manuscript entitled: <strong>Phylogenetic and functional constraints of plant facilitation rewiring</strong></p> <p>We provided two spreadsheets containing the data "Adult species data" and "Interactions data.xlsx". Each archive contains a readme textbox with detailed information on the variables included in the archives</p>
Can Plant-Based Diets Facilitate Dietary Transition in Bolivia?: An Exploratory Study
<p>Exploratory study on the relation between environmental concerns and the intention to shift to a more plant-based sustainable diet in Bolivia. Data was collected online, with volunteer anonymous participants.</p>
Restored legume acts as a 'nurse' to facilitate plant compensatory growth and biomass production in mown grasslands
<p>Legume restoration was conducted in a temperate grassland in Hulunbuir, northeastern Inner Mongolia, China, by reseeding native legumes. This process was followed by annual mowing and phosphorus (P) application over a seven-year period (2014–2020). Throughout this period, we measured aboveground biomass, plant diversity, and the relative biomass of five functional plant groups each year. In 2020, we assessed six functional traits of 15 common plant species in both legume-restored and naturally-restored grasslands, respectively. Using these trait values and relative biomass data, we calculated community-weighted means and functional diversity indices for each plot.</p> <p> </p>
Soil engineering by ants facilitates plant compensation for large herbivore removal of aboveground biomass
<p>The interplay between top-down and bottom-up processes determines ecosystem productivity. Yet, the factors that mediate the balance between these opposing forces remain poorly understood. Furthering this challenge, complex and often cryptic factors like ecosystem engineering and trait-mediated interactions may play major roles in mediating the outcomes of top-down and bottom-up interactions. In semi-arid grasslands of northeastern China, we conducted a large-scale, three-year experiment to evaluate how soil engineering by ants and plasticity in plants independently and jointly influenced the top-down effects of grazing by a ubiquitous herbivore (cattle) on aboveground standing biomass of the dominant perennial grass, <i><span>Leymus chinensis</span></i>. Herbivory had strong top-down effects, reducing <i><span>L. chinensis</span></i> AB by 25% relative to baseline levels without cattle or ants. In contrast, soil engineering by ants facilitated weak bottom-up effects in the absence of herbivory. However, in the presence of herbivory, soil engineering effects were strong enough to fully offset herbivore removal of aboveground biomass. This outcome was mediated by <i><span>L. chinensis</span></i>'s plasticity in reallocating growth from below- to aboveground biomass, a result linked to additive effects of engineers and herbivores increasing soil N availability and engineering effects improving soil structure. Soil engineering increased soil N by 12%, promoting aboveground biomass. Herbivores increased soil N by 13% via defecation, but this increase failed to offset their reductions in aboveground biomass in isolation. However, when combined, engineers and herbivores increased soil N by 26% and engineers improved soil bulk density, facilitating <i><span>L. chinensis</span></i> to shift resource allocations from below- to aboveground biomass sufficiently to fully offset herbivore suppression of aboveground biomass. Our results demonstrate that soil engineering and trait-mediated effects of plant plasticity can strongly mediate the outcome of top-down and bottom-up interactions. These cryptic but perhaps ubiquitous processes may help to explain the long-debated phenomenon of plant compensatory responses to large grazers. </p>
Data from: Facilitation consequences for reproduction of the benefactor cushion plant Laretia acaulis along an elevational gradient: costs or benefits?
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