Article
Horticulture
Radosav Cerovic, Milica Fotiric Aksic, Milena Dordevic, Mekjell Meland
Summary: The study evaluated the progamic phase of fertilization and fruit set in four European plum cultivars in Western Norway, showing different adaptability of both recipient and donor cultivars to specific ecological conditions. The pollinizers Victoria, Opal and C. Lepotica were proven to be very good pollinizers for certain cultivars, while cultivars Opal, R. E. Prolific and Mallard were considered excellent pollinizers for Edda under certain temperature conditions.
SCIENTIA HORTICULTURAE
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Diksha Kalia, Joel Jose-Santhi, Ravi Kumar, Rajesh Kumar Singh
Summary: This study isolated a group of genes in saffron and found that they play an important regulatory role in the process of flowering.
JOURNAL OF PLANT GROWTH REGULATION
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Joel Jose-Santhi, Firdous Rasool Sheikh, Diksha Kalia, Rajesh Kumar Singh
Summary: Temperature plays a crucial role in regulating flowering in saffron. High temperature promotes flowering while low temperature suppresses it. This temperature-dependent flower induction is mediated by changes in sugar metabolism genes and the FT3 gene.
ENVIRONMENTAL AND EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2023)
Review
Plant Sciences
Jiffinvir Khosa, Francesca Bellinazzo, Rina Kamenetsky Goldstein, Richard Macknight, Richard G. H. Immink
Summary: Geophytes use a dual reproduction system to adapt to harsh climatic conditions, with the PEBP gene family playing a crucial role in regulating both types of reproduction. Differential expression and protein complex formation give unique functions to members of the PEBP gene family, mediating the crosstalk between the two reproductive events in geophytes.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2021)
Article
Horticulture
Jaser A. Aljaser, Neil O. Anderson
Summary: Cycle 1 gladiolus are more resilient to the gibberellin inhibitor, even at high concentrations, and have the potential to be used for potted gladiolus production. Compared with noncycle 1 genotypes, cycle 1 gladiolus flowered more under higher concentrations or did not flower at all, while leaf width increased and flower stalk height decreased.
Article
Plant Sciences
Manuel Ankel, Marcos Rubal, Puri Veiga, Leandro Sampaio, Laura Guerrero-Meseguer
Summary: Sexual reproduction in the Zostera noltei species of seagrasses in the Ria de Aveiro lagoon of Portugal shows similarities in flowering effort and phenology among meadows, with a longer flowering period and high seed production and germination ability compared to other European populations. However, further research is needed to understand the natural recovery capacity of the species.
Article
Plant Sciences
Deived Uilian de Carvalho, Daniel A. Boakye, Tim Gast, Rui Pereira Leite Junior, Fernando Alferez
Summary: The maturity of citrus rootstock fruits affects seed quality and seedling performance, influencing seed germination and seedling growth.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Review
Plant Sciences
Fernanda Caro Beveridge, Sundaravelpandian Kalaipandian, Chongxi Yang, Steve W. Adkins
Summary: Coconut, an important crop, has seen an increase in demand but a decrease in production due to palm senility and various stresses. Traditional seed propagation remains crucial and needs improvement. Understanding coconut fruit biology and related issues is essential for improving seed propagation.
Article
Agronomy
Vitor M. Anunciato, Leandro Bianchi, Giovanna L. G. C. Gomes, Edivaldo D. Velini, Stephen O. Duke, Caio A. Carbonari
Summary: Hormesis induced by low glyphosate doses in Digitaria insularis may provide an advantage for the dissemination of this species, altering the weed flora. Glyphosate-resistant biotypes require higher doses for stimulation compared to glyphosate-susceptible biotypes, potentially favoring the selection of resistant biotypes in glyphosate-sprayed fields and increasing infestation rates.
PEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Xunju Liu, Jiyuan Wang, Irfan Ali Sabir, Wanxia Sun, Li Wang, Yan Xu, Niangong Zhang, Haobo Liu, Songtao Jiu, Lu Liu, Caixi Zhang
Summary: The research suggests that the PavGA2ox-2L gene is involved in the dwarf dense planting of sweet cherry, delays flowering time, and inhibits seed germination. It regulates plant growth and development through interaction with PavDWARF.
PLANT PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Forestry
A. Chetty, K. L. Glennon, S. M. Venter, G. V. Cron, E. T. F. Witkowski
Summary: The study reveals that the fruit production of African baobabs is related to floral features, with trees producing more fruits tending to have more female flowers, while trees with lower fruit production have more male flowers. This suggests a potential sex allocation shift in baobabs, emphasizing the importance of maintaining both types of trees in the landscape for sustainable harvesting of fruits and seeds.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Haidong Bu, Xiaohuan Sun, Pengtao Yue, Junling Qiao, Jiamao Sun, Aide Wang, Hui Yuan, Wenquan Yu
Summary: Auxin-responsive gene MdAux/IAA2 plays an important role in regulating apple fruit size. Overexpression of MdAux/IAA2 results in smaller fruit size, weight, and cell size, while silencing MdAux/IAA2 leads to an increase in fruit weight and cell size. The findings suggest that the high auxin content suppresses the expression of MdAux/IAA2, thereby affecting fruit development.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Plant Sciences
Avi Sadka, Catriona H. Walker, Dor Haim, Tom Bennett
Summary: The majority of food eaten worldwide relies on the fruit and seed produced by a small number of crop plants. With the growing global population, there is an urgent need to increase yields of these crops without expanding land use or chemical inputs. Many of these crops exhibit fruit-flowering feedbacks, where early fruit production can inhibit further fruit production through various mechanisms. Understanding and overcoming these feedbacks could lead to increased crop yields without additional resources.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Ailen Authier, Pablo Cerdan, Gabriela Auge
Summary: This study evaluated the effects of ambient temperature changes on the expression of transgenerational plasticity in key developmental traits of Arabidopsis thaliana plants. The results showed that the environment during the whole life cycle of the first generation of plants influenced the germination response and flowering time of the second generation, while the production of reproductive biomass depended on the immediate environment of the progeny generation. Additionally, the seed area of the third generation was influenced positively by correlated environments across generations.
Article
Ecology
Shunli Yu, Guoxun Wang, Ofir Katz, Danfeng Li, Qibing Wang, Ming Yue, Canran Liu
Summary: Seed mass, vertebrate-dispersed species richness, and fleshy-fruited species richness exhibit significantly declining trends along a longitudinal gradient from forests to desert grasslands. However, the lowest average seed mass and smallest proportion of species dispersed by vertebrates are found in typical grasslands among the five biomes.
Article
Ecology
Leonardo H. Teixeira, Markus Bauer, Michaela Moosner, Johannes Kollmann
Summary: River dikes are important secondary habitats that can provide multiple ecosystem services, including erosion control, habitat conservation, recreation, and biomass production. The multifunctionality of dike grasslands can be enhanced through site preparation, trait-based seeding design, and grassland management. With the increasing importance of dike multifunctionality under climate change, spatio-temporal variability of vegetation should also be considered in restoration and management approaches. Cooperation between conservation and river authorities, and the use of ecological knowledge and experiments, can further improve the restoration and management of dike grasslands.
BASIC AND APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sandra Rojas-Botero, Leonardo Teixeira, Johannes Kollmann
Summary: Urban grasslands play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services in cities, but their multifunctionality under climate change remains poorly understood. This study simulated climate change scenarios in grassland ecosystems and found that reduced precipitation had a significant impact on multifunctionality. Furthermore, grasslands with an even ratio of plant functional types showed greater resilience to climate change.
Article
Ecology
Ana Boeira Porto, Rosangela Goncalves Rolim, Luciana da Silva Menezes, Pedro Augusto Thomas, Guilherme Dubal dos Santos Seger, Gerhard Ernst Overbeck
Summary: This study evaluated the effect of physical barriers on vegetation recovery in subtropical Brazilian grasslands and found that the barriers can act as seed traps, favoring the occurrence of well-dispersed species. The study also found that species richness and diversity values were higher near logs, but Simpson values were higher with greater distance from logs.
RESTORATION ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Marie-Therese Krieger, Leonardo H. Teixeira, Kerstin Grant, Johannes Kollmann, Harald Albrecht
Summary: Grasslands are managed to provide multiple goods and services. However, recent decades have seen the abandonment of marginal grasslands and intensification of the most productive sites, leading to biodiversity losses and reduced ecosystem services. Invasion by unwanted plants, such as Jacobaea aquatica, further impairs ecosystem services by compromising fodder quality and endangering animal health. To address this issue, different management regimes were tested in wet grasslands of Southern Germany, and moderate management was found to strike a balance between controlling J. aquatica and maintaining grassland multifunctionality.
BASIC AND APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Sandra Rojas-Botero, Leonardo H. H. Teixeira, Paula Prucker, Veronika Kloska, Johannes Kollmann, Soizig Le Stradic
Summary: The current challenges of functional responses in plant communities to climate change require multi-factorial experiments. Moreover, studies on climate change should focus on below-ground responses, especially the traits and biomass allocation of absorptive roots. Therefore, this study aimed to understand how climate change affects absorptive roots in young mesocosm grasslands by manipulating three components.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Fernando Pulido, Bastien Castagneyrol, Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez, Yonatan Caceres, Adara Pardo, Eva Moracho, Johannes Kollmann, Fernando Valladares, Johan Ehrlen, Alistair S. Jump, Jens-Christian Svenning, Arndt Hampe
Summary: By conducting a meta-analysis on global populations of plants and animals, it was found that marginal populations perform significantly worse than central populations, especially those at low latitudes. This performance difference is likely to be influenced by global climate change, and changes in demographic rates of marginal populations can serve as early-warning signals for range shifts.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Thore Engel, Helge Bruelheide, Daniela Hoss, Francesco M. Sabatini, Jan Altman, Mohammed A. S. Arfin-Khan, Erwin Bergmeier, Tomas Cerny, Milan Chytry, Matteo Dainese, Juergen Dengler, Jiri Dolezal, Richard Field, Felicia M. Fischer, Dries Huygens, Ute Jandt, Florian Jansen, Anke Jentsch, Dirk N. Karger, Jens Kattge, Jonathan Lenoir, Frederic Lens, Jaqueline Loos, Ulo Niinemets, Gerhard E. Overbeck, Wim A. Ozinga, Josep Penuelas, Gwendolyn Peyre, Oliver Phillips, Peter B. Reich, Christine Roemermann, Brody Sandel, Marco Schmidt, Franziska Schrodt, Eduardo Velez-Martin, Cyrille Violle, Valerio Pillar
Summary: This study evaluates the effects of dominance and niche partitioning on biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships in grassland systems worldwide. The results indicate that dominance effects, related to the traits of the dominant species, have a significant impact on BEF relationships, while functional diversity (FD) does not affect primary productivity (NDVI).
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Ingmar R. Staude, Josiane Segar, Vicky M. Temperton, Bianca O. Andrade, Michele de Sa Dechoum, Emanuela W. A. Weidlich, Gerhard E. Overbeck
Summary: In the era of unprecedented climate change, ecological restoration efforts primarily focus on forests for carbon sequestration, while grasslands are comparatively overlooked in global restoration policies. However, analyses from central Europe and southern Brazil reveal that a majority of endangered plant species are actually found in open ecosystems. By restoring open, grassy ecosystems, plant extinction risk could be reduced by up to 82%. Moreover, ramping up grassland restoration efforts not only bends the curve of biodiversity loss, but also contributes to the resilience of ecosystems and mitigates climate change impacts.
RESTORATION ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Markus Bauer, Martin Krause, Valentin Heizinger, Johannes Kollmann
Summary: Brick wastes resulting from construction and demolition pose a recycling challenge. Using bricks as planting substrates can reduce their deposition in landfills and partly replace other materials. This study investigated the effects of brick-based substrates on survival, growth, and functional traits of two urban trees. The results showed that brick quantity had a slight negative effect on the growth and branching of one tree species, while acid pre-treatment had a negative effect on the growth rate of another species. Overall, brick-based substrates had no clear effects on the study species.
TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
(2023)
Article
Zoology
Stephen M. G. Gillanders, Luciana R. Podgaiski, Gerhard E. Overbeck, Alessandra Santos, Bruna Winck, George G. Brown, Marie L. C. Bartz
Summary: In the highly diverse Brazilian Pampa region, we sampled grazed natural grassland and agropastoral systems in two regions (Alegrete and Acegua) and identified a total of five species of earthworms, including four native-new to science species and one exotic species. Differences in earthworm species richness and abundance were observed between regions and land-use systems. Agropastoral systems had higher abundance and species richness than natural grasslands, but these differences varied by location. Conversion from natural grassland to agropastoral systems can maintain native earthworms and enhance ecosystem services, but the presence of an exotic species in agropastoral systems raises concerns about the impacts of land use changes in the Brazilian Pampa region.
Article
Plant Sciences
Pedro Augusto Thomas, Ana Boeira Porto, Gerhard Ernst Overbeck, Sandra Cristina Muller
Summary: This study evaluated the potential of hay transfer for the restoration of subtropical grasslands in Southern Brazil. The results showed that hay harvested in mid-Spring and early-Summer resulted in more seedling emergence. Using a larger amount of hay also increased species richness, regardless of the harvest date.
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
Biodiversity Conservation
Kelly G. Lyons, Peter Torok, Julia-Maria Hermann, Kathrin Kiehl, Anita Kirmer, Johannes Kollmann, Gerhard E. Overbeck, Sabine Tischew, Edith B. Allen, Jonathan D. Bakker, Christy Brigham, Elise Buisson, Kerri Crawford, Peter Dunwiddie, Jennifer Firn, Devin Grobert, Karen Hickman, Soizig L. E. Stradic, Vicky M. Temperton
Summary: Grasslands are crucial for combating biodiversity and climate crises, and their restoration is essential. Multifunctional grassland restoration can restore biodiversity while also sequestering carbon. However, the importance of grassland preservation and restoration has been overlooked compared to forests, despite their contributions to human well-being and the environment.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Tiago Shizen Pacheco Toma, Gerhard Ernst Overbeck, Milton de Souza Mendonca, G. Wilson Fernandes
Summary: Restoration and conservation are interconnected as restoration can assist in enhancing, expanding, or linking protected areas. The authors argue that conservation can support restoration by identifying optimal references, which are areas representative of the range of habitats to be restored. Given the high rates of habitat loss and ambitious restoration goals, the availability of suitable references is crucial. However, the utilization and prioritization of these references in conservation efforts are not always optimal. The authors emphasize the need for defining, prioritizing, and protecting optimal references as a strategic approach to effectively address current and future challenges in conservation and restoration.
PERSPECTIVES IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)