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121 results for “plant fitness”
Data from: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi equalize differences in plant fitness and facilitate plant species coexistence through niche differentiation
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Data from: Facilitated exploitation of pollination mutualisms: fitness consequences for plants
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Data from: Soil microbes generate stronger fitness differences than stabilization among California annual plants
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Summer aridity rather than management shapes fitness-related functional traits of the threatened mountain plant Arnica montana
<p>Semi-natural mountain grasslands are increasingly exposed to environmental stress under climate change. However, which are the environmental factors that limit plants in these grasslands? Also, is the present management effective against these changes? Fitness-related functional traits may offer a way to detect changes in performance and provide new insights into their vulnerability to climate change. We investigated changes in performance and variability of functional traits of the mountain grassland target species <em>Arnica montana</em> along a climate gradient in Central German low mountain ranges. This gradient represents at its lower end climate conditions that are expected at its upper end under future climate change. We measured vegetative, generative and physiological traits to account for multiple ways of plant response to the environment. Using mixed effects and multivariate models, we evaluated changes in trait values among individuals as well as the variability of their populations in order to assess performance under changing summer aridity and different management regimes.</p> <p>Fitness-related performance of most traits showed strongly positive associations with reduced summer aridity at higher elevations, while only specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content showed no association. This suggests a higher performance level at less arid montane sites and that the physiological traits are less sensitive to this climate change factor. The coefficient of variation of almost all traits declined steadily with decreasing site aridity. We suggest that this reduced variability indicates a lower environmental stress level for <em>A. montana</em> towards its environmental optimum at montane elevations, especially because the trait performance increased simultaneously. Surprisingly, management factors and habitat characteristics had only low influence on both trait performance and variability. In summary, summer aridity had a stronger effect to shape the trait performance and variability of <em>A. montana</em> under increased environmental stress than management and other habitat characteristics.</p>
Date from: Top-down effects from parasitoids may mediate plant defense and plant fitness
<ol> <li>Plants face many environmental stresses that can impact the<span>ir </span><span><span>survival</span></span><span>, developm</span>ent, and fitness. Insects are the most diverse, abundant and threatening herbivores in nature. As a consequence, plants produce direct chemical and physical defenses to reduce herbivory. They also release volatiles to recruit natural enemies that indirectly protect them from herbivory. The recruitment of parasitic wasps can benefit plant fitness because they ultimately kill their insect hosts.</li> <li>Recently, studies showed that parasitoids can indirectly mediate plant defenses by modulating herbivore oral secretions. In addition to the direct benefits of parasitoids in terms of reducing herbivore survival, we tested if the reduction in induced defenses by parasitized caterpillars compared to non-parasitized caterpillars may reduce the costs associated with defense expression.</li> <li>We provide evidence that tomato plants treated with saliva from parasitized caterpillars have significantly higher fitness parameters including increased flower numbers (16.3%) and heavier fruit weight (15%), compared to plants treated with saliva from non-parasitized caterpillars. Since plants were grown without actual herbivores, the higher values for these fitness parameters were due to lower costs of induced defenses and not due to reduced herbivory by parasitized caterpillars. Furthermore, the resulting seed germination time was shorter and the germination rate was higher when the maternal plants were previously exposed to parasitized herbivore treatment compared to control (non-treated) plants.</li> <li>Overall, application of saliva did not result in transgenerational priming of offspring defense responses. However, offspring of parents exposed to caterpillar saliva had lower constitutive levels and higher induced levels of trypsin inhibitor than offspring from unexposed parents.</li> <li>This study shows that the saliva of parasitized caterpillars can modulate plant defenses and further demonstrates that the lower induction of plant defenses is associated with elevated plant fitnes<span>s </span><span><span>in the absence of herbivore feeding</span></span><span>, sugge</span>sting that induced plant defenses are costly. </li> </ol>
Context-dependent variability in the population prevalence and individual fitness effects of plant-fungal symbiosis
<p>1. Heritable symbionts, found within a diverse array of flora and fauna, are often observed at intermediate prevalence within host populations, despite expectations that positive fitness feedbacks should drive beneficial symbionts to fixation. Intermediate prevalence may reflect neutral dynamics of symbionts with weak fitness effects, transient dynamics of symbionts trending toward fixation (or elimination), or a stable intermediate outcome determined by the balance of fitness effects and failed symbiont transmission. Theory suggests these outcomes should depend on symbiont-conferred effects and vertical transmission efficiency, which may both depend on environmental context.</p> <p>2. We tested these alternatives by tracking temporal change in population-level symbiont prevalence in a three-year field experiment with grasses and vertically transmitted fungal endophytes under the context of manipulated precipitation. Precipitation can mediate endophyte effects on host grasses, and is a relevant context, as global climate models predict changes in precipitation amount and seasonal distribution.</p> <p>3. We found evidence for each of the three proposed mechanisms for intermediate symbiont prevalence, but the outcome differed qualitatively across years and precipitation treatments. Specifically, within the first study year, all populations under ambient precipitation trended toward symbiont fixation, whereas elevated precipitation literally neutralized the interaction resulting in no long-run equilibrium. The second study year yielded a different result with long-run equilibria at an intermediate prevalence for both ambient and elevated precipitation treatments. We linked these population-level outcomes with individual-level symbiont effects on grasses and showed that the benefits of symbiosis were concentrated at the seedling stage, especially under drought stress during the time period coinciding with recruitment. The drought stress evident during the first year of the study was not present in the second year due to greater ambient precipitation during this time period. Together, these findings provide the first experimental evidence that population-level outcomes of host-symbiont interactions, which arise from the composite outcome of demographic vital rates and transmission, can be dynamically stable and can fluctuate in response to shifts in spatio-temporal context.</p> <p>4. Synthesis: Overall, these results indicate that intermediate prevalence of heritable microbial symbionts likely reflects a combination of neutral, transient, and stable mechanisms, and context-dependent fluctuations among them.</p>
Ecological fitting is a sufficient driver of tight interactions between sunbirds and ornithophilous plants
<p>1. Plant-bird pollination interactions evolved independently on different continents. Specific adaptations can lead to their restriction when potential partners from distant evolutionary trajectories come into contact. Alternatively, these interactions can be enabled by convergent evolution and subsequent ecological fitting.<br> 2. We studied the interactions between New World plants from the genus Heliconia, Asian plants of genus Etlingera and African sunbirds on a local farm in Cameroon. Heliconia evolved together with hummingbirds and Etlingera spp. with spiderhunters - an oriental subgroup of the sunbird family. <br> 3. Sunbirds fed on all studied plants and individual plant species were visited by a different sunbird spectrum. We experimentally documented a higher number of germinated pollen grains in sunbird visited flowers of Etlingera spp. For Heliconia spp. this experiment was not successful and pollen tubes were rarely observed, even in hand pollinated flowers, where enough pollen was deposited. The analyses of contacts with plant reproductive organs nevertheless confirmed that sunbirds are good pollen vectors for both Heliconia and Etlingera species.<br> 4. Our study demonstrated a high ecological fit between actors of distinct evolutionary history and the general validity of bird-pollination syndrome. We moreover show that trait matching and niche differentiation are important ecological processes also in semi-artificial plant-pollinator systems.</p>
Data from: Identifying 'useful' fitness models: balancing the benefits of added complexity with realistic data requirements in models of individual plant fitness
<p>Direct species interactions are commonly included in individual fitness models used for coexistence and local-diversity modeling. Though widely considered important for such models, direct interactions alone are often insufficient for accurately predicting fitness, coexistence or diversity outcomes. Incorporating higher-order interactions (HOIs) can lead to more accurate individual fitness models, but also adds many model terms, which can quickly result in model over-fitting. We explore approaches for balancing the trade-off between tractability and model accuracy that occurs when HOIs are added to individual fitness models. To do this, we compare models parameterized with data from annual plant communities in Australia and Spain, varying in the extent of information included about the focal and neighbor species. The best performing models for both datasets were those that grouped neighbors based on origin status and life form, a grouping approach that reduced the number of model parameters substantially while retaining important ecological information about direct interactions and HOIs. Results suggest that specific focal- or neighbor-species identity is not necessary for building well-performing fitness models that include HOIs. In fact, grouping neighbors by even basic functional information seems sufficient to maximize model accuracy, an important outcome for the practical use of HOI-inclusive fitness models.</p>
Linking species-level network metrics to flower traits and plant fitness
1. Theoretical models indicate that the structure of plant-pollinator networks has important implications for species' reproduction and survival. However, despite the growing information on the mechanisms underlying such structure, we are still far from being able to predict the functional consequences of species' structural positions in such networks. From the plants' perspective, species position and roles in pollination networks might be related to traits describing flower attractiveness, availability, and dependence on pollinators. In turn, both, network metrics and species traits might influence plant fitness. 2. During two field seasons, we collected data of the 23 most abundant plant species from a rich coastal community in order to evaluate the association between population and floral traits (floral abundance at the population level and flowers/individual, flower shape and size, flowering length, nectar volume, pollinator dependence), species-level network metrics (linkage level, specialization –d'–, weighted closeness centrality, network roles related to modularity) and plant fitness (seeds/flower, seed weight). 3. Flowering length, flower size, flower abundance and pollinator dependence were positively related to increased generalization, as measured with different indices. More abundant species and those with larger flowers showed higher linkage levels (i.e. higher number of pollinator species), whereas longer flowering periods were negatively related to d' and positively related to closeness centrality and important roles in the network. Likewise, plants more dependent on pollinators occupied more central positions in the network. Furthermore, species' centrality in the networks was significantly associated with plant fitness. Specifically, central species in the network produced more and heavier seeds than the others. However, other plant traits, such as flower size and pollinator dependence had additional direct effects on seed production. 4. Synthesis. Our study highlights how population and floral traits define the positions and roles of species structuring the pollination communities. Moreover, the relationships between network metrics and plant reproduction indicate, for the first time, the functional implications of these structural positions at the inter-specific level of community assembly.
Data from: Fitness consequences of occasional outcrossing in a functionally asexual plant (Oenothera biennis)
Many clonal organisms occasionally outcross, but the long-term consequences of such infrequent events are often unknown. During five years, representing three to five plant generations, we followed 16 experimental field populations of the forb, Oenothera biennis, originally planted with the same 18 original genotypes. Oenothera biennis usually self-fertilizes, which due to its genetic system (Permanent Translocation Heterozygosity), results in seeds that are clones of the maternal plant. However, rare outcrossing produces genetically novel offspring (but without recombination or increased heterozygosity). We sought to understand whether novel genotypes produced through natural outcrossing had greater fecundity or different multigenerational dynamics compared to our original genotypes. We further assessed whether any differences in fitness or abundances through time between original and novel genotypes were exaggerated in the presence versus absence of insect herbivores. Over the course of the experiment, we genotyped >12,500 plants using microsatellite DNA markers to identify and track the frequency of specific genotypes and estimated fecundity on a subset (>3000) of plants. The effective outcrossing rate was 7.3% in the first year and ultimately 50% of the plants were of outcrossed origin by the final year of the experiment. Lifetime fruit production per plant was on average 32% higher across all novel genotypes produced via outcrossing compared to the original genotypes, and this fecundity advantage was significantly enhanced in populations lacking herbivores. Among 43 novel genotypes that were abundant enough to phenotype with replication, plants produced nearly 30% more fruits than the average of their specific two parental genotypes, and marginally more fruits (8%) than their most fecund parent. Mean per capita fecundity of novel genotypes predicted their relative frequencies at the end of the experiment. Novel genotypes increased more dramatically in herbivore-present compared to suppressed populations (45% vs. 27% of all plants), countering the increased competition from dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) that resulted from herbivore suppression. Increased interspecific competition likely also lead to the lower realized fitness of novel versus original genotypes in herbivore-suppressed populations. These results demonstrate that rare outcrossing and the generation of novel genotypes can create high-fecundity progeny, with the biotic environment influencing the dynamical outcome of such advantages.
Data from: Interactions between soil habitat and geographic range location affect plant fitness
Populations are often found on different habitats at different geographic locations. This habitat shift may be due to biased dispersal, physiological tolerances or biotic interactions. To explore how fitness of the native plant Chamaecrista fasciculata depends on habitat within, at and beyond its range edge, we planted seeds from five populations in two soil substrates at these geographic locations. We found that with reduced competition, lifetime fitness was always greater or equivalent in one habitat type, loam soils, though early-season survival was greater on sand soils. At the range edge, natural populations are typically found on sand soil habitats, which are also less competitive environments. Early-season survival and fitness differed among source populations, and when transplanted beyond the range edge, range edge populations had greater fitness than interior populations. Our results indicate that even when the optimal soil substrate for a species does not change with geographic range location, the realized niche of a species may be restricted to sub-optimal habitats at the range edge because of the combined effects of differences in abiotic and biotic effects (e.g. competitors) between substrates.
Data from: Contrasting habitat and landscape effects on the fitness of a long-lived grassland plant under forest encroachment: do they provide evidence for extinction debt?
1. Habitat loss, fragmentation and transformation threaten the persistence of many species worldwide. Population and individual fitness are often compromised in small, degraded and isolated habitats, but extinction can be a slow process and extinction debts are common. 2. Long-lived species are prone to persist as remnant populations in low quality habitats for a long time, but the population and individual-level mechanisms of extinction debt remain poorly explored so far. 3. We here investigate the mechanisms involved in the long-term persistence of the common grassland specialist, long-lived, clonal plant Aphyllanthes monspeliensis L. (Asparagaceae). after forest encroachment into semi-natural Mediterranean calcareous grasslands in Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula). For this purpose we assess vegetative (aboveground and belowground) and reproductive plant performance indicators and their habitat and landscape (current and historical) drivers. 4. We confirm the existence of an extinction debt for this species, since current plant frequency is related to historical but not current connectivity, and we also find a positive effect of historical connectivity on seed set. In addition, current tree cover negatively affects individual size and aboveground/belowground biomass ratio, and biotic soil acidification leads to a reduction in the flowering probability of individuals and stems. 5. However, we also find that current connectivity negatively affects flowering and that tree cover enhances seed set. The forestation process, thus, also exerts a positive effect on some fitness traits, probably by providing a moister environment. 6. Synthesis. Habitat loss and deterioration result in a decreased vegetative performance of Aphyllanthes monspeliensis, a grassland specialist, but show contrasting effects on its reproductive performance. However, further forest encroachment would increase light competition and soil acidification, threatening its persistence and promoting the payment of the extinction debt if no conservation measures are taken.
Data from: Revising traditional theory on the link between plant body size and fitness under competition: evidence from old-field vegetation
The selection consequences of competition in plants have been traditionally interpreted based on a "size-advantage" hypothesis – that is, under intense crowding/competition from neighbors, natural selection generally favors capacity for a relatively large plant body size. However, this conflicts with abundant data, showing that resident species body size distributions are usually strongly right-skewed at virtually all scales within vegetation. Using surveys within sample plots and a neighbor-removal experiment, we tested: (1) whether resident species that have a larger maximum potential body size (MAX) generally have more successful local individual recruitment, and thus greater local abundance/density (as predicted by the traditional size-advantage hypothesis); and (2) whether there is a general between-species trade-off relationship between MAX and capacity to produce offspring when body size is severely suppressed by crowding/competition – that is, whether resident species with a larger MAX generally also need to reach a larger minimum reproductive threshold size (MIN) before they can reproduce at all. The results showed that MIN had a positive relationship with MAX across resident species, and local density – as well as local density of just reproductive individuals – was generally greater for species with smaller MIN (and hence smaller MAX). In addition, the cleared neighborhoods of larger target species (which had relatively large MIN) generally had – in the following growing season – a lower ratio of conspecific recruitment within these neighborhoods relative to recruitment of other (i.e., smaller) species (which had generally smaller MIN). These data are consistent with an alternative hypothesis based on a 'reproductive-economy-advantage' – that is, superior fitness under competition in plants generally requires not larger potential body size, but rather superior capacity to recruit offspring that are in turn capable of producing grand-offspring – and hence transmitting genes to future generations – despite intense and persistent (cross-generational) crowding/competition from near neighbors. Selection for the latter is expected to favor relatively small minimum reproductive threshold size and hence – as a tradeoff – relatively small (not large) potential body size.
Data from: Crop-associated virus infection in a native perennial grass: reduction in plant fitness and dynamic patterns of virus detection
To understand the eco-evolutionary significance of plant viruses in nature, we must (i) quantify the effects of infection on plant fitness and (ii) recognize that native plants are increasingly exposed to crop-associated viruses. Studies of perennials are particularly needed: most of our knowledge of plant-virus interactions is from annuals, yet long-lived species dominate landscapes. Here we used aster models for life-history analysis and longitudinal measures of plant virus status to evaluate multi-year consequences of crop virus infection in a native perennial. We used Barley yellow dwarf virus acquired from wheat to inoculate seedlings of Panicum virgatum L. (switchgrass), a North American prairie grass. We grew inoculated and mock-inoculated individuals of two ecotypes for 3 years in the field. We measured plant size, infection status and fitness components. Aster modelling provided integrated multi-year measures of fitness. Crop virus inoculation reduced multi-year native plant fitness by 30% over 2 years despite generally asymptomatic infection and evidence of resistance. This reduction was greater than predicted from individual fitness components or most size measures. Ecotypes differed in response, with the lowland ecotype experiencing higher apparent recovery from infection. Virus treatment in the upland ecotype delayed flowering phenology and reduced seed filling. Synthesis. Our use of field experimentation, surveys of plant infection status and aster modelling demonstrates a rigorous and broadly applicable approach for quantifying the effects of viruses and other microbes on multi-year plant fitness. We found that a crop virus had negative multi-year effects on native plant fitness even after infection was no longer detected. Viruses may have substantial effects on native vegetation with domestication of landscapes and agricultural expansion.
Sequence and functional analyses of native plasmids from plant pathogenic Gammaproteobacteria: comparative genomics, conjugative mobilization and fitness effects
<p>These data tables are part of the Supplementary Material for Chapter I of the thesis titled <em>"Sequence and Functional Analyses of Native Plasmids from Plant-Pathogenic Gammaproteobacteria: Comparative Genomics, Conjugative Mobilization, and Fitness Effects."</em></p>
Manduca sexta experience high parasitoid pressures in the field but minor fitness costs of consuming plant secondary compounds
<p>Plant-herbivore co-evolutionary interactions have led to a range of plant defenses that minimize insect damage and a suite of counter-adaptations that allow herbivores to feed on defended plants. Consuming plant secondary compounds results in herbivore growth and developmental costs but can have beneficial effects such as deterrence or harm of parasitoid enemies. Therefore, the role of secondary compounds on herbivore fitness must be considered in the context of the abundance and level of harm from natural enemies and the costs herbivores incur feeding on plant secondary compounds.</p> <ol> <li>In this study, I combined field measurements of <em>Cotesia congregata</em> wasp parasitism pressure with detailed measurements of the costs of plant secondary compounds across developmental stages in the herbivore host, <em>Manduca sexta</em>.</li> <li>I show that <em>C. congregata</em> parasitoids exert large negative selective pressures, killing 31-57% of <em>M. sexta</em> larvae in the field. <em>Manduca sexta </em>developed fastest during instars most at risk for parasitoid oviposition but growth was slowed by consumption of plant secondary compounds. The negative effects of consuming plant secondary compounds as larvae influenced adult size traits but there were no immune, survival, or fecundity costs.</li> <li>These results suggest that developmental costs experienced by <em>M. sexta</em> herbivores consuming defensive compounds are minor in comparison to the strong negative survival pressures from abundant parasitoid enemies.</li> </ol>
Dataset for "Insect frass from upcycling vegetable by-products with cereals: effects on the soil properties, plant development and soil invertebrate fitness"
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Data from: Effects of apical meristem mining on plant fitness, architecture and flowering phenology in Cirsium altissimum (Asteracaeae)
Premise of the study: Interactions that limit lifetime seed production have the potential to limit plant population sizes and drive adaptation through natural selection. Effects of insect herbivory to apical meristems (apical meristem mining) on lifetime seed production rarely have been quantified experimentally. We studied Cirsium altissimum (tall thistle), whose meristems are mined by Platyptilia carduidactyla (artichoke plume moth), to determine how apical damage affects plant maternal fitness and evaluate both direct and indirect mechanisms underlying these effects. Methods: In restored prairie, apical mining was manipulated on tall thistles by applying insecticide, water, or no spray to apical meristems. We quantified effects on lifetime seed production, plant architecture, and flowering phenology. Seed germinability and seedling mass were evaluated in a greenhouse. Key results: Apical meristem miners decreased lifetime seed production of C. altissimum, but not seed quality. Higher mortality rates of damaged plants contributed to reduced seed production. Apical damage reduced plant height and increased the proportion of blooming flower heads in axial positions on branches. Apical damage delayed flowering and shortened flowering duration. Conclusions: Apical meristem mining reduced plant maternal fitness. The shift in the identity of blooming flower heads from terminal to axial positions contributed to this reduction because axial heads are less fecund. Shorter, meristem-mined plants may have been more susceptible to competition, and this susceptibility may explain their higher mortality rates. The kinds of changes in architecture and phenology that resulted from apical damage to C. altissimum have been shown to affect floral visitation in other plant species.
Drought has negative consequences on aphid fitness and plant vigour: insights from a meta-analysis
<p>1. Aphids are abundant in natural and managed vegetation, supporting a diverse community of organisms and causing damage to agricultural crops. Due to a changing climate, periods of drought are anticipated to increase, and the potential consequences of this for aphid-plant interactions are unclear.</p> <p>2. Using a meta-analysis and synthesis approach, we aimed to advance understanding of how increased drought incidence will affect this ecologically and economically important insect group, and to characterise any potential underlying mechanisms. We used qualitative and quantitative synthesis techniques to determine whether drought stress has a negative, positive, or null effect on aphid fitness and examined these effects in relation to 1) aphid biology, 2) geographical region, 3) host plant biology.</p> <p>3. Across all studies, aphid fitness is typically reduced under drought. Subgroup analysis detected no difference in relation to aphid biology, geographical region, or the aphid-plant combination, indicating the negative effect of drought on aphids is potentially universal. Furthermore, drought stress had a negative impact on plant vigour and increased plant concentrations of defensive chemicals, suggesting the observed response of aphids is associated with reduced plant vigour and increased chemical defence in drought-stressed plants.</p> <p>4. We propose a conceptual model to predict drought effects on aphid fitness in relation to plant vigour and defence to stimulate further research.</p>
Fig. 3 in Ecological fitting: Chemical profiles of plant hosts provide insights on selection cues and preferences for a major buprestid pest
Fig. 3. Average time spent (s ± 1SE) of gravid emerald ash borer females (Agrilus planipennis) in arms of Y-tube olfactometer with foliage emissions of olive (OL, Olea europaea), white fringetree (WF, Chionanthus virginica), green ash (GA, Fraxinus pennsylvanica), Manchurian ash (MA, F. mandshurica) or blank air (BL). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
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