Article
Geography, Physical
Christopher K. West, Tammo Reichgelt, James F. Basinger
Summary: The Ravenscrag Butte flora in Canada provides a record of an early Paleocene forest ecosystem with warm and wet temperate conditions. The leaf physiognomy of the flora is similar to contemporaneous fossil macrofloras from western and northern North America, indicating a physiognomic homogeneity over broad latitudes during the early Paleocene.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Geography, Physical
Aly Baumgartner, Daniel J. Peppe
Summary: The study investigated the plant fossil assemblages from different stratigraphic intervals on Rusinga Island, Kenya, revealing variations in floral composition and environmental characteristics. The R3 flora was found to be more similar to modern tropical seasonal forests compared to other intervals, while the flora at Kiahera Hill showed higher species richness and evenness than the R3 flora.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Gang Wei, Changhui Peng, Qiuan Zhu, Xiaolu Zhou, Bin Yang
Summary: This study improved the precision of estimating mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation using machine learning models in the digital leaf physiognomy data set, which showed moderate to significant improvements over multiple linear regression models.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
L. Alejandro Giraldo, Monica R. Carvalho, Fabiany Herrera, Conrad C. Labandeira
Summary: This study presents and describes the borings found on a fossil fruit of cf. Cocos, indicating an ecological interaction between seed beetles and palms that has been maintained for millions of years.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Kohei Koyama, Duncan D. Smith
Summary: This study models the within-shoot leaf size variation in plants and applies it to predict leaf area in different species. The results show that the model accurately predicts the variation in leaf area among different species, and the model predictions align well with observed data.
Article
Plant Sciences
Guoquan Peng, Yingjie Xiong, Mengqi Yin, Xiaolin Wang, Wei Zhou, Zhenfeng Cheng, Yong-Jiang Zhang, Dongmei Yang
Summary: Leaf size and venation architecture are important factors for plant adaptation. The study found that the major vein density and the ratio of major to minor vein density decrease with leaf size increase across species with different vein types and leaf habits. Palmate-veined species have higher major vein density and ratio compared to pinnate-veined species at a given leaf size.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Laura M. Sanchez-Galindo, Dorothee Sandmann, Franca Marian, Tobias Lauermann, Mark Maraun, Stefan Scheu
Summary: In tropical montane rainforests in Ecuador, soil biota play a key role in the decomposition of different plant litter types. The study found that the decomposition of leaf and root litter is differently affected by variations in climatic conditions and litter quality, with microorganisms primarily driving the decomposition processes.
Article
Plant Sciences
Supatthra Narawatthana, Yotwarit Phansenee, Bang-On Thammasamisorn, Phanchita Vejchasarn
Summary: This study explored the quantitative trait loci and alleles related to rice flag leaf anatomical and vein traits using three different genetic models through genome-wide association analysis. The results showed that all three models were able to identify significant loci associated with these traits. The findings suggest that flag leaf traits can be improved via molecular breeding and can be a target for high-yield rice development.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Peijian Shi, Qinyue Miao, Ulo Niinemets, Mengdi Liu, Yirong Li, Kexin Yu, Karl J. Niklas
Summary: Main leaf vein density scales inversely with leaf area. Minor vein density does not have a clear relationship with leaf area. Leaf size does not directly affect leaf hydraulic efficiency and redundancy.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Ling Pan, Barbara George-Jaeggli, Andrew Borrell, David Jordan, Fiona Koller, Yazen Al-Salman, Oula Ghannoum, Francisco J. Cano
Summary: In C-4 plants like sorghum, leaf width is negatively correlated with intrinsic water-use efficiency and positively correlated with stomatal conductance. Results highlight the important role of leaf width in shaping internal water-use efficiency through coordination of vein and stomatal traits, affecting stomatal aperture.
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Zoology
Janine Ochoa, Armand S. B. Mijares, Philip J. Piper, Marian C. Reyes, Lawrence R. Heaney
Summary: This study reports three new species of the Tribe Phloeomyini in the Philippines, increasing the species richness and morphological diversity of this unique group, and indicating that the lowland mammal fauna on Luzon was more diverse in the recent past with five species of giant rodents coexisting with Homo luzonensis. The findings also suggest that modern humans played a role in the extinction of the newly discovered species as new cultural practices emerged and exotic mammal species were introduced to Luzon during the Late Holocene.
JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Barbara Beikircher, Lawren Sack, Andrea Ganthaler, Adriano Losso, Stefan Mayr
Summary: Research has shown that different growth environments and stages of seedling development can affect hydraulic and anatomical parameters. Seedlings show variation in hydraulic and anatomical parameters across growth environments and ontogenetic shifts, with stomatal conductance tightly correlated with shoot and leaf hydraulic conductance, balancing hydraulic supply and demand for early stages of seedling establishment.
Article
Ecology
Ran Tao, Lawren Sack, James Rosindell
Summary: The study aims to investigate the factors determining the size of biological lineage radiation by modeling simplified scenarios with a spatially structured neutral model. The research found that a wide range of radiation sizes is possible depending on the combination of geographic isolation and species' dispersal ability, and identified a new mechanism termed 'radiation cascade' for rapid radiation. This process is triggered by rare and stochastic dispersal events, leading to a rapid increase in lineage diversity and ultimately a new equilibrium between speciation and extinction.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Robert M. Kooyman, Sarah J. Ivory, Adam J. Benfield, Peter Wilf
Summary: This study evaluates the threat of future climate change to the remaining rainforest and paleo-Antarctic rainforest lineages (PARLs) in Southeast Asia. The findings show that potential future distributions of ancient lineages are constrained by increasing rainfall seasonality and higher seasonal temperatures. However, these potential distributions often map onto inaccessible areas, posing a grave threat to paleo-conservation values and contemporary rainforest community assembly processes in Southeast Asia.
JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Editorial Material
Ecology
David B. Lindenmayer, Phil Zylstra, Robert Kooyman, Chris Taylor, Michelle Ward, James E. M. Watson
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Leila R. Fletcher, Christine Scoffoni, Colin Farrell, Thomas N. Buckley, Matteo Pellegrini, Lawren Sack
Summary: Research has found that there is a decoupling between relative growth rate and adaptation to cold or dry climates in Arabidopsis ecotypes. This decoupling is consistent with the presence of multiple stress resistance and avoidance mechanisms, contributing to the wide geographic range and resilience of the species.
Article
Plant Sciences
Priera H. Panescu, Marvin Browne, Kathleen K. Chen, Lawren Sack, Heather D. Maynard
Summary: This study found that the polyacrylate-based hydrogel improved the function of tomato plants under drought conditions, while the trehalose hydrogel was ineffective. This research is important for evaluating hydrogels that can prevent water wastage in agriculture and improve crop health under drought conditions.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Karel Mokany, James K. McCarthy, Daniel S. Falster, Rachael Gallagher, Thomas D. Harwood, Robert Kooyman, Mark Westoby
Summary: This study investigates the diversity patterns and potential environmental drivers of vascular plants in Australia by integrating vegetation plot survey data. The models predict that temperature and precipitation are the strongest environmental predictors for diversity, with soil texture and topographic heterogeneity also important. The predicted species richness and compositional dissimilarity highlight areas of high plant diversity in southwestern Australia, eastern rainforests, and the Australian Alps.
Review
Plant Sciences
Nidhi Vinod, Martijn Slot, Ian R. McGregor, Elsa M. Ordway, Marielle N. Smith, Tyeen C. Taylor, Lawren Sack, Thomas N. Buckley, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira
Summary: Rising temperatures affect forests at different scales, with significant vertical variation across forest strata. This study evaluates the vertical variation in microclimate, leaf temperatures, traits, and gas exchange in forests, and discusses the implications for tree and ecosystem ecology. Integrating these patterns and mechanisms into models is critical for predicting forest-climate feedback as the climate continues to change.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Jeffrey D. D. Wood, Lianhong Gu, Paul J. J. Hanson, Christian Frankenberg, Lawren Sack
Summary: Soil and atmospheric droughts pose increasing threats to plant survival and productivity worldwide. However, there are conceptual gaps that limit our ability to predict the impacts of drought on ecosystems under climate change. This study introduces the concept of the ecosystem wilting point (psi(EWP)), which integrates the drought response of a plant community across the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. The findings show that psi(EWP) serves as a threshold defining significant shifts in ecosystem functional state.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Holly A. A. Beckett, Teresa Neeman, Tomas I. Fuenzalida, Callum Bryant, Sara Chica Latorre, Leuwin I. Ovington, Lawren Sack, Patrick Meir, Marilyn C. Ball
Summary: The incidence and severity of global mangrove mortality due to drought is increasing. Yet, little is understood of the capacity of mangroves to show long-term acclimation of leaf water relations to severe drought. Our study found that the legacy of severe drought enhanced salinity tolerance in the subsequent dry season through coordinated adjustments that reduced leaf water potential and increased cell wall rigidity. These adjustments enable greater leaf function with minimal adjustments, contributing fundamentally to mangrove function under varying salinity regimes.
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Review
Plant Sciences
Christine Scoffoni, Caetano Albuquerque, Thomas N. N. Buckley, Lawren Sack
Summary: A surge of papers have reported low leaf vulnerability to xylem embolism during drought. Here, we focus on the less studied, and more sensitive, outside-xylem leaf hydraulic responses to multiple internal and external conditions. Detailed experiments suggest these dynamic responses arise at least in part from strong control of radial water movement across the vein bundle sheath. While leaf xylem vulnerability may influence leaf and plant survival during extreme drought, outside-xylem dynamic responses are important for the control and resilience of water transport and leaf water status for gas exchange and growth.
Editorial Material
Plant Sciences
Peter Wilf, Robert M. Kooyman
Summary: Many tree genera in the Malesian uplands, originating from the Southern Hemisphere, have likely contributed to global cooling through weathering and CO2 drawdown. Gondwanan-sourced tree lineages have played an overlooked role in Neogene CO2 drawdown, and conifers in Araucariaceae and Podocarpaceae have contributed to weathering through soil acidification. The destruction of Malesian forests threatens unique plant assemblages and a potential carbon sequestration engine for cooler planetary conditions.
Article
Plant Sciences
Marvin Browne, Megan K. Bartlett, Christian Henry, Mona Jarrahi, Grace John, Christine Scoffoni, Nezih Tolga Yardimci, Lawren Sack
Summary: Intra-specific trait variation (ITV) is important in various processes, but it is rarely quantified for ecophysiological traits such as PV curve parameters. This study found low ITV for PV parameters compared to other morphological traits and strong intraspecific relationships among PV traits, using a conservative sampling design.
PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Congcong Liu, Lawren Sack, Ying Li, Jiahui Zhang, Kailiang Yu, Qiongyu Zhang, Nianpeng He, Guirui Yu
Summary: The relationship between stomatal traits and environmental drivers across plant communities is important for understanding ecosystem fluxes. This study explores the community-scale stomatal trait-environment relationships and finds a trade-off between stomatal density and size. Stomatal density is mainly associated with precipitation, while stomatal size is mainly associated with temperature. The study also reveals that stomatal traits vary with climatic seasonality and extreme conditions. These findings have implications for predicting future water and carbon cycles.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Mark Fitzgerald, Simon Gorta, Robert M. Kooyman
Summary: The study revealed significant effects of seasonality and seasonal resource availability on avian community composition and feeding guild representation. Avian communities showed dynamic changes in space and time (year to year) and strong responses to regional seasonal trends. Avian species abundances were higher in less disturbed forest habitats, highlighting the importance of conservation reserves in protecting high-quality avian habitats.
PACIFIC CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2022)
