Article
Agronomy
Ana Paula Rosa, Lucia Barao, Lelia Chambel, Cristina Cruz, Margarida Maria Santana
Summary: This study evaluated the response of tomato plants to water scarcity by analyzing changes in leaf reflectance and identifying spectral reflectance indices (SRIs) for the early detection of drought stress. The researchers found 12 SRIs that showed significant differences between treatments, with 6 of them already significantly different within 7 or 9 days after the experiment started. These findings suggest that these SRIs could be used as promising proxies for the early detection of invisible responses to drought onset.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Wei Yuan, Mu Liu, Daizhao Chen, Yao-Wu Xing, Robert A. Spicer, Jitao Chen, Theodore R. Them, Xun Wang, Shizhen Li, Chuan Guo, Gongjing Zhang, Liyu Zhang, Hui Zhang, Xinbin Feng
Summary: The colonization and expansion of land plants happened earlier than previously thought, during the Ordovician-Silurian transition, based on analysis of Hg isotopes in marine sediments from South China. The negative excursions in Delta Hg-199 and Delta Hg-200 found in these sediments indicate increased terrestrial contribution of Hg due to the rapid expansion of vascular plants. This expansion coincided with rising atmospheric oxygen concentrations and global cooling.
Article
Ecology
Ananza M. Rabello, Catherine L. Parr, Antonio C. M. Queiroz, Danielle L. Braga, Graziele S. Santiago, Carla R. Ribas
Summary: Land-use change affects ant species and functional groups differently based on frequency of occurrence, habitat specificity, and fidelity, with common ant species being more sensitive to habitat transformation. Different vegetation types have distinct indicator species and functional groups in native habitats compared to converted habitats. Functional groups in converted habitats show lack of specificity and fidelity in any vegetation type.
BASIC AND APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mary Ann C. Perron, Isabella C. Richmond, Frances R. Pick
Summary: This study compared the importance of local factors (plant communities and water quality) and landscape factors (surrounding land cover) in structuring wetland bioindicator assemblages. Plant communities were found to have the greatest impact on dragonfly and damselfly community structure, followed by pond water quality and then surrounding land cover types. The presence of adjacent ponds and wetlands had a measurable effect on these communities.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Laura Ortiz, Arantzazu L. Luzuriaga, Pablo Ferrandis
Summary: This study investigates the effects of biological soil crusts (BSC) on plant development and demonstrates that BSC can both restrict and facilitate the growth and fitness of plants. The study also suggests that the functional diversity structure of the community can drive the growth and fitness of coexisting species through activating alternative coexistence mechanisms. The findings highlight the importance of plant neighborhood features and provide insights into the interpretation of assembly mechanisms.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Editorial Material
Plant Sciences
Valeria Bianciotto, Marc-Andre Selosse, Florent Martos, Roland Marmeisse
Summary: This article proposes the exploration of ancient plant-microbiota interactions preserved in herbaria to assess the impact of longlasting global changes.
TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Vincent Zieschank, Robert R. Junker
Summary: Plant traits are important for understanding ecosystem functions and responses to environmental changes. Ecological field studies use low-throughput methods, while agricultural studies use high-throughput phenotyping. Remote sensing provides large-scale data, but it can also be used on a smaller scale in community ecology to study plant phenotypes. We introduced a novel method called digital whole-community phenotyping (DWCP) and demonstrated its potential in capturing plant community responses to land-use treatments.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Dikko Jeff Gafna, Joy A. Obando, Martin Reichelt, Sebastian Schmidtlein, Klara Dolos
Summary: This study aims to investigate the effects of environmental drivers on medicinal plant occurrence, the contribution of different vegetation formations to plant provision for disease treatment, and how these contributions are secured through redundancy. The analysis revealed that different vegetation formations vary in terms of the diversity and security of medicinal services provided.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Chiaki Otsu, Hayato Iijima, Takuo Nagaike, Yoshinobu Hoshino
Summary: Climate change has a dramatic impact on plant species diversity globally, but there are few reports on the effects of long-term precipitation pattern changes on plant community diversity in areas other than moisture-limited areas. Investigating the effects of precipitation and other environmental changes on understory plant species composition in temperate forests is crucial for conservation strategies.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Chen Xie, Liu Yang, Yingping Gai
Summary: In this study, the classification of MAP3K genes in plants was conducted and the members and basic characteristics of each subfamily of MAP3K were briefly described. Additionally, the roles of plant MAP3Ks in regulating plant growth and development and in response to stress (abiotic and biotic) were detailed. Furthermore, the involvement of MAP3Ks in plant hormone signaling pathways was briefly introduced, and future research focuses were discussed.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Review
Plant Sciences
Alexander M. C. Bowles, Christopher J. Williamson, Tom A. Williams, Timothy M. Lenton, Philip C. J. Donoghue
Summary: Plant evolution has had a profound impact on the biosphere. Recent studies using comparative genomics, phylogenetics, and the fossil record have revealed the evolutionary history of important plant groups and key innovations. Molecular clock analyses suggest that these plant groups emerged at specific time periods in Earth's history.
TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Editorial Material
Plant Sciences
Stuart F. McDaniel
Summary: The author suggests that certain terminology commonly used in plant systematics may lead to misunderstandings in interpreting phylogenetic trees, and advocates for utilizing a clear framework, such as tree thinking, to enhance understanding of phylogenies across different sub-disciplines of biology.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Yu Ren, Haipeng Yu, Chenxi Liu, Yongli He, Jianping Huang, Lixia Zhang, Huancui Hu, Qiang Zhang, Siyu Chen, Xiaoyue Liu, Meng Zhang, Yun Wei, Yaoxian Yan, Weiwei Fan, Jie Zhou
Summary: Central Asia has been experiencing significant warming and intensified hydrological changes. The wet season has become wetter and the dry season has become drier. Precipitation and vapor pressure deficit are the primary factors for the wet season, while precipitation, net radiation, and vapor pressure deficit are dominant factors for the dry season. Enhanced moisture flux from midwestern Eurasia contributes to increased wet season precipitation, while decreased moisture flux and enhanced local evapotranspiration explain the drying trend in the dry season.
JOURNAL OF CLIMATE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alistair G. Auffret, Jens-Christian Svenning
Summary: There are serious concerns about the negative effects of climate change and land conversion on biodiversity. This study investigates the combined effects of climate warming and land-use change on plant species distribution in Sweden. The results show that species associated with warmer climates have increased, while grassland specialists have declined. Climate warming and vegetation densification through grazing abandonment have synergistic effects on species distribution change. Local extinctions are related to high levels of warming but can be reduced by grassland retention. Colonisations occur more often in areas experiencing high levels of both climate and land-use change, indicating time lags in warming-related extinctions. The study highlights the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preserving valuable habitats for the conservation of threatened species.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Studies
Urgessa Kenea, Dereje Adeba, Motuma Shiferaw Regasa, Michael Nones
Summary: Land use and land cover changes are significant in African countries due to their agriculture-based economy and rapid population growth; research indicates that LULCC has an impact on watershed hydrology, necessitating effective response strategies; modeling results demonstrate that LULCC affects water flow, highlighting the importance of accounting for LULCC in modeling hydrological responses at the watershed scale.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Jiri Bek, Stanislav Oplustil
Summary: Unpublished data from palynological investigation of coal and carbonaceous rocks from over thirty boreholes drilled in the Czech sector of the Intra-Sudetic Basin in the second half of the 20th century were taxonomically upgraded and analyzed for stratigraphic and systematic evaluation. A total of 78 genera and 322 miospore and pollen species were recorded within a radioisotopically constrained 21 million-year interval, spanning middle Bashkirian to early Asselian times. The miospore and pollen assemblages of coal seams are characterized by important genera and taxa, and five new palynozones of the basin were recognized.
BULLETIN OF GEOSCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Milan Libertin, Jiri Bek, Jun Wang, Stanislav Oplustil, Josef Psenicka, Jana Votockova Frojdova
Summary: A new species of Sphenophyllum named Sphenophyllum parvifolium sp. nov. has been discovered in Wuda, Inner Mongolia, along with other related species and possible climbing structures. The study also provides information on the morphology of cones and spores, as well as the geological age of the plant-bearing tuff bed.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jana Votockova Frojdova, Jun Wang, Josef Psenicka, Jiri Bek, Stanislav Oplustil, Milan Libertin
Summary: This study presents a new leptosporangiate fern species, Oligosporangiopteris zhongxiangii gen. and sp. nov., from the in situ tuff flora in the Wuda coalfield, Inner Mongolia, North China. The plant's unique anatomy and reproductive organs with in situ spores justify the creation of this new species, as well as the proposal of a new combination, Oligocarpia wudaensis (Deng, Sun and Li) comb. nov.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jitka Ortmannova, Juraj Sekeres, Ivan Kulich, Jiri Santrucek, Petre Dobrev, Viktor Zarsky, Tamara Pecenkova
Summary: The exocyst complex with the EXO70B2 subunit plays a specific role in papilla and encasement formation, working in coordination with the SYP121 SNARE complex in defense against non-adapted fungal pathogens. The interaction between EXO70B2 and SYP121 proteins contributes to the timely formation of papillae and haustorial encasements, enhancing the plant's resistance to fungal invasion. The findings highlight the cooperation between the exocyst and a SNARE protein in defending against non-adapted pathogens.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Tamara Pecenkova, Premysl Pejchar, Tomas Moravec, Matej Drs, Samuel Haluska, Jiri Santrucek, Andrea Potocka, Viktor Zarsky, Martin Potocky
Summary: PR1 protein, commonly used as a marker for biotic stress monitoring in plants, undergoes partial proteolytic processing en route from the endoplasmic reticulum, with only nonmutated variants or processing-mimicking ones being secreted to the apoplast. The released protein fragment acts as a modulator of plant defense responses, with tissue-localized and host plant ontogenesis-dependent immunity potential.
MOLECULAR PLANT PATHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Josef Psenicka, Jun Wang, Jiri Bek, Hermann W. Pfefferkorn, Stanislav Oplustil, Weiming Zhou, Jana Votockova Frojdova, Milan Libertin
Summary: A new species of whole-plant zygopterid fern with fertile and vegetative parts attached to each other and preserved simultaneously as compressions and petrifactions is reported in this study. Named Nemejcopteris haiwangii, this fern grew on peat during earliest Permian times, showing the ability to thrive in both nutrient-poor swamp environments and drier areas. The results of this study contribute to understanding the evolutionary relationships between the genera Corynepteris, Nemejcopteris, and Biscalitheca and their foliage.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Yu Zhou, Yun Guo, Josef Psenicka, Jiri Bek, Shi-Ling Yang, Zhuo Feng
Summary: A new species of adpressed marattialean fern, Pectinangium xuanweiense sp. nov., is described from the late Permian in eastern Yunnan and western Guizhou provinces, Southwest China. The fronds of this species are at least bipinnate, with fertile pinnules showing recurved margins and arranged synangia. In situ spores correspond to Verrucosisporites and indicate the species belongs to the Acitheca miltonii Group of Paleozoic marattialeans.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jakub Zarsky, Vojtech Zarsky, Martin Hanacek, Viktor Zarsky
Summary: The terrestrial habitats during the Cryogenian period were possibly covered by global snow and ice. Recent studies suggest that multicellular charophytes evolved in response to Cryogenian cooling. This period also saw the likely origin of the common ancestor of Zygnematophyceae and Embryophyta. The expansion of terrestrial flora during the Marinoan glaciation was represented not only by Chlorophyta but also by Streptophyta and Zygnematophyceae.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Klara Batystova, Lukas Synek, Martina Klejchova, Edita Jankova Drdova, Peter Sabol, Martin Potocky, Viktor Zarsky, Michal Hala
Summary: The exocyst complex is involved in the regulation of polarized secretion in eukaryotic cells. In seed plants, there are two isoforms of the SEC15 gene, with SEC15a mainly functioning in pollen and SEC15b mainly functioning in sporophyte. Loss of SEC15a leads to impaired pollen tube, while loss of SEC15b results in stunted sporophyte development.
Article
Plant Sciences
Monika Uhlirova, Josef Psenicka, Jakub Sakala, Jiri Bek
Summary: The newly described fossil plant Tichavekia grandis from the upper Silurian in the Barrandian area of Czech Republic sheds light on early land plant diversity, while also presenting unique challenges and questions. The plant's exceptional size and branching contribute to a better understanding of early land plant evolution and ecology.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Viktor Zarsky
Summary: Tethering complexes mediate vesicle-target compartment contact and initiate vesicle exocytosis at specific membrane domains. Plant exocyst is stabilized at the membrane through a direct interaction, resulting in different types of exocyst with distinct functions within the cell.