AoB PlantsPub Date : 2025-09-17eCollection Date: 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plaf052
Dongzhou Deng, Juanli Chen, Li He, Dawei Li, Dechao Chen, Wuxian Yan, Junpeng Mu
{"title":"Plant reproductive strategies and pollinator attributes differ in small-scale habitat heterogeneity.","authors":"Dongzhou Deng, Juanli Chen, Li He, Dawei Li, Dechao Chen, Wuxian Yan, Junpeng Mu","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf052","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf052","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Habitat variability critically influences plant reproductive strategies and pollinator attributes. However, studies on intraspecific variation in vegetative and floral traits, pollinator attributes, and seed traits remain limited in the context of small-scale habitat heterogeneity, particularly meadows interspersed with sandy patches. On the Tibetan Plateau, discrete sandy patches (some as small as 10 m<sup>2</sup>) occur within alpine meadows. We hypothesized that distinct plant reproductive strategies and pollinator attributes exist between meadows and sandy habitats at a microhabitat scale. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a field experiment to investigate variation in floral traits, pollinator attributes, and seed traits in a Tibetan alpine herb (<i>Astragalus purpurinus</i>) across meadow and sandy habitats. Our results show that meadow populations produced fewer nectar-enriched flowers with high sugar concentrations, fewer and larger seeds, and were pollinated primarily by bumble bees. In contrast, sandy-habitat populations produced numerous nectar-poor flowers with low sugar concentrations, more numerous small seeds, and relied on mason bees for pollination. Our results demonstrate that micro-scale habitat heterogeneity drives divergent plant reproductive strategies and pollinator attributes within a single species. These findings reveal novel mechanisms by which small-scale environmental variation shapes reproductive adaptation in alpine ecosystems.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"17 5","pages":"plaf052"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12480739/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145208194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AoB PlantsPub Date : 2025-09-14eCollection Date: 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plaf051
Marcelo Serpe, Jacob Venable, Sven Buerki
{"title":"Differences in functional traits and drought tolerance between heteromorphic leaves of <i>Artemisia tridentata</i> seedlings, a keystone species from a semiarid shrubland.","authors":"Marcelo Serpe, Jacob Venable, Sven Buerki","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf051","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf051","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Leaf traits are crucial to seedling growth and survival, and their plasticity can influence seedling fitness in changing environments. Seedlings of <i>Artemisia tridentata</i>, a keystone shrub of the western North American sagebrush steppe, show heteromorphic leaf development. Early leaves are larger and less pubescent than those produced later, suggesting a shift from characteristics favouring rapid growth to those increasing drought tolerance. To investigate this hypothesis, we determined the specific leaf area (SLA) and the osmotic potential at full turgor (π<sub>0</sub>) of early and late leaves, and measured their stomatal conductance and photosynthetic rates as leaf water potential (Ψ<sub>l</sub>) declined under imposed drought. We also examined whether water stress could trigger late leaf development. At high Ψ<sub>l</sub> and per area, early and late leaves had similar photosynthetic rates. However, the SLA of early leaves was three times higher than that of late leaves, yielding higher photosynthetic rates per unit mass in the former. Late leaves had lower π<sub>0</sub> and were less sensitive to drought, exhibiting a lower Ψ<sub>l</sub> at 50% of maximum photosynthesis than early leaves. Drought triggered the shedding of early leaves and the initiation of late-like leaves. Formation of these leaves continued upon return to well-watered conditions, possibly indicating stress memory. The overall results suggest that early leaves enhance growth during wet springs following germination, while late leaves prolong photosynthesis as water potentials decline during summer drought. The adaptive value of early leaves may be diminishing due to changing environmental conditions that are accelerating the onset of drought.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"17 5","pages":"plaf051"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12492002/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145233919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AoB PlantsPub Date : 2025-09-05eCollection Date: 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plaf049
Jonatan Rodriguez, Vilma B Quipildor, Eugenia M Giamminola, Sergio J Bramardi, David Jarvis, Jeff Maughan, Jiemeng Xu, Hafiz U Farooq, Pablo Ortega-Baes, Eric Jellen, Mark Tester, Daniel Bertero, Ramiro N Curti
{"title":"Climate links leaf shape variation and functional strategies in quinoa's wild ancestor.","authors":"Jonatan Rodriguez, Vilma B Quipildor, Eugenia M Giamminola, Sergio J Bramardi, David Jarvis, Jeff Maughan, Jiemeng Xu, Hafiz U Farooq, Pablo Ortega-Baes, Eric Jellen, Mark Tester, Daniel Bertero, Ramiro N Curti","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf049","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf049","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding how leaf morphology mediates plant responses to environmental variability is critical for predicting species adaptability under climate change. This study examines whether intraspecific variation in leaf shape among <i>Chenopodium hircinum</i> populations is linked to physiological and functional trait differences and whether such variation reflects adaptive responses to source climate. We cultivated 11 populations of <i>C</i>. <i>hircinum</i> from diverse climatic origins in a common garden experiment. Leaf shape was quantified using descriptors (aspect ratio, circularity, solidity), landmarks, and Elliptical Fourier Descriptors. Physiological traits (stomatal conductance, leaf temperature, chlorophyll content) and functional traits (leaf area, leaf dry weight and leaf mass per area) were measured and analysed in relation to shape and environmental data. Leaf morphology varied significantly among populations and was associated with climatic conditions at origin, especially mean summer temperature. Functional and physiological traits were not directly correlated with environmental variables but showed strong associations with leaf shape. Landmark-based PC2 (lobed vs. rounded forms) and aspect ratio emerged as key predictors of trait variation. Most trait variation occurred at the individual level rather than among populations. Our findings highlight leaf shape as a central mediator linking environmental heterogeneity to physiological function. This suggests that morphology-driven trait integration may enhance adaptability in <i>C</i>. <i>hircinum</i>. Intraspecific diversity in shape and associated traits could serve as a reservoir of resilience under climate change, reinforcing the evolutionary and applied significance of wild relatives in crop improvement.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"17 5","pages":"plaf049"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12461569/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145187121","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Drought modifies the impacts of soil nutrient heterogeneity on native and alien plant growth in the absence of competition.","authors":"Yin-Ni Wu, Xiao-Yan Na, Lin Huang, Ke-Xin Weng, Wei Xue, Fei-Hai Yu","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf042","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf042","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Soil nutrient heterogeneity has generally been shown to benefit alien plants more than native ones. However, whether drought, an important aspect of climate change, alters these effects remains an open question. We used a greenhouse experiment with two alien and two native herbaceous plants. Plants were grown either alone or in a mixture (one alien plant and one native plant) in homogeneous and heterogeneous soils, with or without drought. We found that shoot mass of the native plant <i>Alternanthera sessilis</i> and the alien plant <i>Celosia argentea</i> were 27.4% and 76.6% lower in heterogeneous soils than homogenous soils, respectively, indicating a negative effect of soil nutrient heterogeneity. However, these negative effects were eliminated when the plants were grown alone in drought conditions. In contrast, soil nutrient heterogeneity, drought, and competition had little effect on the growth of the native plant <i>Achyranthes bidentata</i> and the alien plant <i>Amaranthus retroflexus</i>. These results suggest that plant species differ in their growth responses to complex environmental changes. These results may have implications for understanding plant invasion outcomes in heterogeneous environments under global climate changes.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"17 5","pages":"plaf042"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12401082/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144994044","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AoB PlantsPub Date : 2025-08-07eCollection Date: 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plaf040
Oscar Carey-Fung, Alexander A T Johnson
{"title":"From convention to innovation: the role of genetic modification and genome editing in Australian wheat breeding.","authors":"Oscar Carey-Fung, Alexander A T Johnson","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf040","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf040","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Wheat is the most cultivated crop worldwide, and Australia consistently ranks among the top wheat-exporting countries. Although modern technology has expanded the speed and accuracy of conventional breeding, progress is constrained by limited genetic diversity and linkage drag, with new wheat varieties often taking 8-12 years to reach the market. Biotech methods involving the transformation of foreign DNA into genomes [genetic modification (GM)], or editing of native DNA [genome editing (GEd)], provide novel opportunities to efficiently improve traits alongside conventional breeding. In 2020, the world's first GM drought-tolerant bread wheat (HB4) hit the market in Argentina. The USA recently approved HB4 wheat for commercial cultivation, and human consumption of HB4 wheat has been approved by nine countries, including Australia. Currently, 25 countries, Australia included, have deregulated GEd crops in some form, and many other countries have indicated that they will follow suit. As of March 2025, no GM or GEd wheat is commercially grown in Australia. The rate at which private industry integrates GM and GEd into wheat breeding programmes will depend on several factors, including the regulatory consistency governing GM and GEd crops within Australia and among international trading partners, the return on investments relative to deregulation costs including licensing, the level of acceptance amongst growers and consumers, and technical considerations including wheat's amenability to tissue culture. This review contextualizes GM and GEd applications in wheat, often drawing on examples from crop species where biotechnology has been more widely employed, and considers the key stakeholders that will shape the future of GM and GEd wheat in Australia.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"17 5","pages":"plaf040"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12406798/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145001702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AoB PlantsPub Date : 2025-07-30eCollection Date: 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plaf039
Gabriella M Mizell, Patrick D Milligan, Todd M Palmer, John Mosiany, John S Lemboi, Elizabeth G Pringle
{"title":"The impact of shade on whole-plant carbon allocation in a dominant East African tree sapling.","authors":"Gabriella M Mizell, Patrick D Milligan, Todd M Palmer, John Mosiany, John S Lemboi, Elizabeth G Pringle","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf039","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf039","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plasticity in resource allocation can be beneficial for plants under stress. In savannas, tree-grass competition forces tree saplings growing in the grass layer to compete for water, nutrients, and light. Savanna tree saplings are also vulnerable to fire and herbivory, which may favour investment in storage belowground to support regrowth aboveground. It is unclear whether carbon (C) limitation from grass shading similarly favours allocation belowground. Further, investigating how light reduction changes allocation by juvenile trees to above- and belowground biomass, storage, and defence can help us understand juvenile tree allocation strategies during ubiquitous C limitation. Using a screenhouse experiment, we evaluated the effects of shade on carbon allocation and leaf physiology in saplings of a dominant ant-acacia, <i>Acacia</i> (<i>Vachellia</i>) <i>drepanolobium</i>. We hypothesized that shade would induce greater belowground allocation by saplings to root growth and storage. Indeed, we found that shaded saplings had higher root mass fractions and higher concentrations of starch in their roots than plants in full sunlight. Plants in full sunlight, meanwhile, invested more in aboveground growth, with higher stem mass fractions than shaded plants. Shade did not affect leaf mass fraction, but plants in the shade had a lower leaf mass per area, higher stomatal conductance, and a higher maximum photosynthetic rate, indicating leaf-level adjustments that increased carbon capture under light limitation. These responses are consistent with possible adaptive allocation strategies that buffer the impacts of fire and herbivory, underscoring the essential role of belowground reserves for regrowth.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"17 4","pages":"plaf039"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12380175/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144975550","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AoB PlantsPub Date : 2025-06-24eCollection Date: 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plaf031
Valentina Simonetti, Laura Ravazzolo, Benedetto Ruperti, Silvia Quaggiotti, Umberto Castiello
{"title":"The effects of a neighbour and its identity on roots' plastic growth.","authors":"Valentina Simonetti, Laura Ravazzolo, Benedetto Ruperti, Silvia Quaggiotti, Umberto Castiello","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf031","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf031","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plant responses to the presence of neighbours and social interactions between them have the potential to alter fundamental aspects of plants' evolution, persistence, and coexistence. The present study employs a novel approach to investigate the three-dimensional movement of root tips in response to a neighbouring plant of the same or different species. We collected data from maize and pea plants in three experimental conditions: (i) individual condition, in which plants grew without neighbours; (ii) social growing condition with a conspecific neighbour, in which plants grew in the presence of another plant of the same species; and (iii) social growing with a heterospecific neighbour, in which plants grew in the presence of another plant of a different species. The results indicate that roots display a more pronounced 'exploratory' behaviour when growing under social conditions. For both maize and pea plants, a higher incidence of aggregative behaviour (primary root moving towards the neighbour) was observed when plants grew near a conspecific when compared with an heterospecific neighbour. According to our analyses, roots showing aggregative behaviour seem to detect the neighbouring root with a good level of geometrical precision as shown by the observed directional movement. We contend that this study provides for the first time quantitative information on the modulation of kinematic and oscillatory features of root movements, which are vital for a deeper understanding of plants' below-ground interactions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"17 4","pages":"plaf031"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12260220/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144643934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AoB PlantsPub Date : 2025-06-24eCollection Date: 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plaf032
Saddan Morales-Saldaña, Andrea I Barraza-Ochoa, Emanuel Villafán, Antonio Acini Vásquez-Aguilar, Santiago Ramírez-Barahona, Enrique Ibarra-Laclette, Juan Francisco Ornelas
{"title":"Comparative plastomes of five <i>Psittacanthus</i> species: genome organization, structural features, and patterns of pseudogenization and gene loss.","authors":"Saddan Morales-Saldaña, Andrea I Barraza-Ochoa, Emanuel Villafán, Antonio Acini Vásquez-Aguilar, Santiago Ramírez-Barahona, Enrique Ibarra-Laclette, Juan Francisco Ornelas","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf032","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf032","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The evolution of heterotrophic lifestyle entails varying degrees of plastome degradation. Yet, the evolutionary trajectory of plastome degradation associated with parasitism remains poorly explored in hemiparasites. We sequenced, assembled, and annotated the complete plastomes of five species of <i>Psittacanthus</i> mistletoes. In addition, publicly available plastomes of 58 species in Loranthaceae were obtained and re-annotated for phylogenetic and comparative analyses. We used a comparative phylogenetic approach to evaluate whether patterns of pseudogenization and gene loss differ among lineages of hemiparasites in Loranthaceae. Gene order was highly conserved, with higher sequence similarity and structural conservation between closely related <i>Psittacanthus</i> species but with considerable plastome size variation (from 121 238 to 125 427 bp). The expansion and contraction at the borders of inverted repeats (IRs) and intergenic regions variation greatly contribute to size variations among <i>Psittacanthus</i> plastomes. Phylogenetic analysis of plastomes of 60 species in Loranthaceae including 5 <i>Psittacanthus</i> species of the previously unsampled tribe Psittacantheae was largely congruent with previous phylogenetic studies. The loss of most of the <i>ndh</i> complex (10 out of 11 genes), <i>rpl32</i>, <i>rps15</i>, and <i>rps16</i> genes, was identified in all studied <i>Psittacanthus</i> species. Also, the loss and pseudogenization of <i>rpl33</i> and <i>rpl36</i> genes in <i>Psittacanthus</i> were uncommon in other Loranthaceae species. The structural variation uncovered in <i>Psittacanthus</i> plastomes reveals that, despite high synteny, significant size variation exists among species. This variation can be attributed to processes such as variations in the length of intergenic regions and the expansion/contraction of IR borders, traits that have been comparatively understudied in earlier Loranthaceae works.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"17 4","pages":"plaf032"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12342154/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144838315","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AoB PlantsPub Date : 2025-06-12eCollection Date: 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plaf029
Francesco Reyes, Benjamin Pitchers, Christophe Pradal, Pierre-Éric Lauri
{"title":"Young apple tree development under agroforestry radiative conditions: a multi-scale morphological and architectural dataset.","authors":"Francesco Reyes, Benjamin Pitchers, Christophe Pradal, Pierre-Éric Lauri","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf029","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf029","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Agroforestry is a major adaptation and mitigation strategy facing climate warming, but its agronomic viability depends on actual plant responses to shade conditions. Growing fruit trees under dominant trees may reduce the risks related to extreme climatic events, such as frost or heat waves. Nonetheless, except for some sciaphilous plants, such as coffee or cacao, their physiological and architectural responses to agroforestry conditions are little known, especially in temperate climate. We present a dataset describing the architecture and morphology of 45 young apple trees, acquired in two consecutive years, along a radiative gradient, as in three growing conditions of an agroforestry plot: (i) the open field, (ii) between, and (iii) along rows of dominant walnut trees. The data are stored as standard multi-scale tree graphs that allow to store the topology, geometry, and attributes of the plant at different scales. It includes plant traits at three topological scales: whole tree, growth unit, and the internode. The traits include organ fate (latent, vegetative, floral bud, and bud extinction sites); length and an estimate of the leaf area of growth units; diameter, zenith, and azimuth angles of second-order branches. The number of leaves, flowers, fruits, and fruit drops is also counted on a sample of 10, possibly apical, flower buds per tree. The dataset includes ancillary measurements on sampled shoots, used to derive allometric relationships between shoot length and leaf area; and an estimate of the radiation reaching each apple tree during the vegetative season. The multi-scale description and the different light growing conditions characterizing the digitized trees allow to investigate relationships between the shade-related agroforestry environment and the apple tree morphological and architectural plasticity, during the early tree development, from the internode to the whole tree.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"17 4","pages":"plaf029"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12310329/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144754918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AoB PlantsPub Date : 2025-06-02eCollection Date: 2025-06-01DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plaf028
Hansika K Herath, D Nicholas McLetchie
{"title":"Thriving in the tropics: spatial variation in heat resilience in the early diverging land plant, <i>Marchantia inflexa</i>.","authors":"Hansika K Herath, D Nicholas McLetchie","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf028","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plaf028","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Increasing frequency and intensity of global warming pose a profound threat to plant species persistence. Most investigations on plants' resilience to heat events focus on few genotypes of model species. Novel insights into resilience mechanisms will be gained by focusing on natural variation in thermotolerance and its relationship to local-abiotic factors. Additionally, studying species that survived 'ancient periods' of high temperatures provides insight into resilience mechanisms. Within a species, we assessed spatial thermotolerance variation, its association with temperature and light, while testing for thermotolerance sex differences and its relationship with population sex ratios. We used <i>Marchantia inflexa</i>, a species with unisexual individuals exhibiting spatial variation in physiologies and life histories. To assess field basal thermotolerance (field BT), we examined the efficiency of photosystem II recovery following a heat treatment (53°C for 45 min) in over 200 field-collected plants from seven sites. We further examined whether field BT is linked to initial physiological traits or environmental factors and assessed its potential as a predictor of sex ratios. Following the heat treatment, plants exhibited damage and were still recovering by day ten; recovery was generally higher in road- relative to stream-collected plants with notable variation among sites. Thermotolerance was positively associated with light and tended to be negatively associated with temperature. This light-thermotolerance relationship was more pronounced in males, and thermotolerance differences between females and males tended to be positively related to the proportion of females. The positive light-thermotolerance association suggests that light is a key factor driving heat stress resilience in <i>M. inflexa</i>. The light-thermotolerance relationship for males vs. females implies sex-specific strategies for coping with abiotic stress. There were subtle thermotolerance impacts on population sex ratios. These insights broaden the understanding of the thermotolerance diversity present within a species.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"17 3","pages":"plaf028"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12206617/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144530618","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}