Article
Plant Sciences
Niv DeMalach, Jaime Kigel, Marcelo Sternberg
Summary: This study shows that the density of the seed bank is more stable than the density of the standing herbaceous vegetation for annual plants. Additionally, the temporal variability between the seed bank and vegetation increases with aridity. For herbaceous perennials, the seed bank variability is higher than in the vegetation.
PERSPECTIVES IN PLANT ECOLOGY EVOLUTION AND SYSTEMATICS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Zhongyu Du, Jia Wang, Hui An, Handan Zhang, Guangcai Chen
Summary: The global increase in drought frequency and intensity has potentially important effects on soil seed banks. This study evaluated the effects of drought on soil seed banks and identified key drivers. The results showed weak negative effects of drought on soil seed density and positive effects on soil seed richness.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Biology
Miaojun Ma, Scott L. Collins, Zak Ratajczak, Guozhen Du
Summary: The composition of both aboveground and belowground plant communities plays a crucial role in ecosystem restoration and stability, with a current focus mainly on aboveground vegetation. Integrating seed bank dynamics into alternative stable state theory can reveal the importance of the relationship between the two, enhancing system resilience and reducing the likelihood of transitioning to undesirable states.
Article
Forestry
Sandra Josefina del Valle Bravo, Nelly Roxana Abdala, Amalia Valeria Ibanez-Moro
Summary: The study assessed woody-species composition and seed density in the soil seed bank (SSB) in a dry subtropical forest with different disturbance regimes. Leaf litter was also evaluated as a seed reservoir in disturbed forests. Findings showed that disturbance reduced tree seed density in the SSB and increased shrub species. In addition, disturbances decreased seed density in the litter fraction.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Ya-Fei Shi, Shan-Heng Shi, Ying-Sha Jiang, Jia Liu
Summary: Through a systematic and quantitative review of literature, this study provides the first global assessment of how soil seed banks respond to fire. The findings reveal the overall negative and neutral effects of fire on soil seed bank richness and abundance, respectively. The study also highlights the variability of fire effects across different ecosystems, with strong positive effects found in Mediterranean ecosystems and negative effects in forest ecosystems, especially tropical forests. Monitoring post-fire seed bank composition is crucial for vegetation regeneration and ecosystem recovery.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Yao Zhao, Meng Li, Jiayong Deng, Baitian Wang
Summary: Research has shown significant differences in the understory vegetation and soil seed banks among rehabilitation areas with different vegetation types. The effects of plantations are better than naturally restored abandoned farmland, and the choice of tree species is crucial for vegetation recovery.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Developmental
Mireille Babineau, Alex de Carvalho, John Trueswell, Anne Christophe
Summary: The study shows that young children can use a small vocabulary of known words to learn about syntactic contexts and infer semantic properties for novel words.
DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ya-Fei Shi, Shan-Heng Shi, Xiao-Min Huang, Ying-Sha Jiang, Jia Liu, Yang Zhao, Zhi-Shan Zhang
Summary: Livestock grazing has a negative effect on soil seed bank abundance, but does not alter seed bank richness or the compositional similarity between the soil seed bank and the aboveground vegetation. The impact of grazing intensity on soil seed bank richness varies, with light-intensity grazing increasing richness, moderate-intensity grazing having no effect, and heavy-intensity grazing having a negative effect. Soil seed bank richness declines with increasing grazing intensity in both arid and mesic areas.
LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yantong Zhao, Guodong Wang, Meiling Zhao, Ming Wang, Ming Jiang
Summary: Soil salinization poses a widespread threat to inland wetlands worldwide. Soil seed banks play a crucial role in plant regeneration in salinized wetlands. This study examines the effects of soil salinization on soil seed banks and their role in revegetation, focusing on wetlands in the Songnen Plain, China. The findings demonstrate that soil salinization influences the size and composition of soil seed banks and their contribution to plant regeneration in the wetlands.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Raphael Passaglia Azevedo, Lara Mota Corinto, Devison Souza Peixoto, Tomas De Figueiredo, Gustavo Cesar Dias Silveira, Pedro Maranha Peche, Leila Aparecida Salles Pio, Paulo Humberto Pagliari, Nilton Curi, Bruno Montoani Silva
Summary: Tillage has a significant impact on soil structure, and different tillage strategies have different effects on the establishment of perennial crops. Soil class and its intrinsic attributes play a role in the effectiveness of tillage. It is important to choose appropriate tillage practices based on specific soil characteristics.
Article
Engineering, Civil
Zach Bullock, Shideh Dashti, Abbie B. Liel, Keith A. Porter
Summary: The study compared the predictive ability of three geotechnical liquefaction indices and conventional ground motion intensity measures in predicting foundation settlement on liquefiable soils. It found that the Ishihara-inspired liquefaction potential index and cumulative absolute velocity (CAV) on outcropping rock were the optimal indices to use. However, neither of these measures outperformed the site term from the probabilistic settlement model developed using the same database.
EARTHQUAKE SPECTRA
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Leonardo Cifuentes, Maximo Gonzalez, Katherine Pinto-Irish, Rodrigo Alvarez, Teodoro Coba de la Pena, Enrique Ostria-Gallardo, Nicolas Franck, Susana Fischer, Gabriel Barros, Catalina Castro, Jose Ortiz, Carolina Sanhueza, Nestor Fernandez Del-Saz, Luisa Bascunan-Godoy, Patricio A. Castro
Summary: Seed priming can enhance the ability of seedlings to cope with stress by altering metabolic responses, and it is particularly beneficial for salt-tolerant plants to improve their adaptability to saline conditions.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Elise Bizouerne, Joseph Ly Vu, Benoit Ly Vu, Isidore Diouf, Frederique Bitton, Mathilde Causse, Jerome Verdier, Julia Buitink, Olivier Leprince
Summary: This study investigated the impact of heat stress during fruit ripening on tomato seed lifespan during storage. The results showed that heat stress reduced the longevity and germination homogeneity of seeds, but there was genetic variability in the seed response to heat stress. Several QTLs associated with seed quality traits were identified, and candidate genes were proposed based on previous transcriptome and gene network data.
Article
Plant Sciences
Patricia Lu-Irving, Jason G. Bragg, Maurizio Rossetto, Kit King, Mitchell O'Brien, Marlien M. van der Merwe
Summary: Plant mating systems have an impact on the distribution of genetic diversity and the long-term success of populations. In this study, the relationship between genetic diversity and mating systems in two species of Hakea was investigated. The results showed contrasting patterns of genetic diversity between the two species, consistent with their differences in mating systems. The findings suggest that seed collection schemes aiming to maximize genetic diversity should consider the specific mating system of the target species.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yao Huang, Hongyue Cai, Shuguang Jian, Jun Wang, Johannes Kollmann, Dafeng Hui, Lei Zhang, Hongfang Lu, Hai Ren
Summary: Human disturbance affects the community structure and spatial distribution of forest soil seed banks on coral islands, increasing the diversity, richness, and density of seed banks as well as the richness of invasive species. Human disturbance alters the dispersal pattern of seeds, limiting the outward dispersal of resident species and promoting the inward dispersal of invasive species. Soil properties, plant characteristics, and human disturbance explain 23-45% of the spatial variation of forest soil seed banks on coral islands, with human disturbance reducing the correlations between plant communities and soil factors while increasing the correlations with landscape heterogeneity, road distance, and shrub and litter cover.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Romana Urfusova, Vaclav Mahelka, Frantisek Krahulec, Tomas Urfus
Summary: The study investigated the ploidy levels and genome sizes of three species of couch grasses, with E. hispidus and E. repens being hexaploid and E. caninus being tetraploid. Introgressive hybridization was found between hexaploid species, with a continual pattern of genome size values shifting towards E. hispidus. No evidence of heteroploid hybridization was found involving tetraploid E. caninus, but minority cytotypes were detected among plants of both E. caninus and E. repens-E. hispidus hybrids.
JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Alexandr Rollo, Maria M. Ribeiro, Rita L. Costa, Carmen Santos, Zoyla M. Clavo P., Bohumil Mandak, Marie Kalousova, Hana Vebrova, Edilberto Chuqulin, Sergio G. Torres, Roel M. V. Aguilar, Tomas Hlavsa, Bohdan Lojka
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Alexander Belyayev, Jirina Josefiova, Michaela Jandova, Vaclav Mahelka, Karol Krak, Bohumil Mandak
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Jan Smid, Jan Douda, Karol Krak, Bohumil Mandak
Article
Plant Sciences
B. Boller, J. Harper, E. Willner, J. Fuchs, M. Glombik, J. Majka, V Mahelka, C. Zhao, D. Kopecky
BIOLOGIA PLANTARUM
(2020)
Article
Plant Sciences
Vaclav Mahelka, Karol Krak, Judith Fehrer, Petra Caklova, Michaela Nagy Nejedla, Radim Cegan, David Kopecky, Jan Safar
Summary: In this study, the nature and evolution of a chromosomal segment of panicoid origin in the nuclear genomes of barley species were investigated. The segment, present in Asian and South American Hordeum species, showed conserved synteny and micro-collinearity, suggesting a common origin acquired before the split of barley lineages. The presence of stress-related protein-coding genes and transposable elements in the foreign DNA segment indicates a potential role in the evolution and adaptation of grass genomes.
Editorial Material
Plant Sciences
Sergei L. Mosyakin, Bohumil Mandak
Article
Plant Sciences
Karol Krak, Petra Caklova, David Kopecky, Frank R. Blattner, Vaclav Mahelka
Summary: The study found significant variation in nrDNA copy numbers among different taxonomic units and within different individuals of the same species in the Hordeum genus. Foreign ribotypes represent only a small fraction of the total nrDNA copies and showed no correlation with native ribotypes.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Ines Gomes Marques, Carla Faria, Sofia Isabel Rodrigues Conceicao, Roland Jansson, Tamara Corcobado, Slobodan Milanovic, Yann Laurent, Ivan Bernez, Simon Dufour, Bohumil Mandak, Hassan Ennouni, Abdelouahab Sahli, Mohammed Ater, Francisco Javier Dorado, Ana Delaunay Caperta, Teresa Soares David, Alejandro Solla, Patricia Maria Rodriguez-Gonzalez
Summary: This study assessed differences in seed traits and germination success among populations of the black alder species complex, showing that seed traits varied among populations and could be used to model germination success for different species. Specifically, the southern Spanish species A. lusitanica positively responded to high temperature extremes, potentially indicating tolerance to climate change in southern Europe.
RESTORATION ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Romana Urfusova, Vaclav Mahelka, Frantisek Krahulec, Ondrej Veskrna, Tomas Urfus
Summary: The study showed that Elymus hispidus, E. repens, and their hybrid have the ability for selfing, with a significant increase in selfing percentage in the presence of foreign pollen. Elymus hispidus exhibited a pronounced selfing ability. Octoploids selfed more frequently than hexaploids and heptaploids, while heptaploids produced fewer seeds after selfing than hexaploids and octoploids, indicating a link between selfing and ploidy level. Despite being potentially important, the significance of induced selfing (the mentor effect) is often underestimated.
Article
Plant Sciences
Laszlo Bartha, Terezie Mandakova, Ales Kovarik, Paul-Adrian Bulzu, Nathalie Rodde, Vaclav Mahelka, Martin A. Lysak, Margaux-Alison Fustier, Jan Safar, Petr Capal, Lujza Keresztes, Horia L. Banciu
Summary: This study provides evidence supporting the integration hypothesis of alien ribosomal DNA (rDNA) from eudicots into the genome of the monocot genus Erythronium. The transferred eudicot-type rDNA is still active in the monocot host, adding a new example of nuclear-to-nuclear DNA transfer between eudicots and monocots.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Alexander Belyayev, Jirina Josefiova, Michaela Jandova, Ruslan Kalendar, Vaclav Mahelka, Bohumil Mandak, Karol Krak
Summary: Our study reveals the structural diversity of CACTA elements in the genomes of Chenopodium album aggregate species. We identified the coexistence of two CACTA transposon subtypes in a single genome, gained additional conserved protein domains within the coding sequence, discovered captured gene fragments including key genes for flower development, and identified captured satDNA arrays. Comparisons with other genomes showed that these events are scattered throughout Angiosperms in different proportions.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Alexander Belyayev, Ruslan Kalendar, Jirina Josefiova, Ladislava Pastova, Farzaneh Habibi, Vaclav Mahelka, Bohumil Mandak, Karol Krak
Summary: Two alternative models were proposed for the formation of derivative monomers from telomeric heptamer motifs of Arabidopsis-type. It was suggested that derivatization of TSs is a common process in plant genomes, but the occurrence and frequencies of derivatives may vary among genotypes. Additionally, the formation of non-canonical arrays of TSs, especially at chromosomal termini, may contribute to genomic variability in nature.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alexander Belyayev, Michaela Jandova, Jirina Josefiova, Ruslan Kalendar, Vaclav Mahelka, Bohumil Mandak, Karol Krak