Applications in Plant Sciences最新文献

{"title":"Fern spore dispersal: A methodological review and experimental field study","authors":"Felipe Gómez-Noguez,&nbsp;Blanca Pérez-García,&nbsp;Rosario Landgrave,&nbsp;Alma Orozco-Segovia,&nbsp;Irma Rosas-Pérez,&nbsp;Aniceto Mendoza-Ruiz,&nbsp;Klaus Mehltreter","doi":"10.1002/aps3.70039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/aps3.70039","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Spore dispersal is one of the most important but perhaps the least investigated and understood processes in determining the geographical distribution of fern species. After a methodological review of the aerobiology of fern spores, we examined the impact of spore characteristics and meteorological factors on their airborne dispersal. We conducted experiments of spore release-recapture for five fern species at distances of up to 60 m under different meteorological conditions and outside of their natural habitats to determine whether their dispersal potential is related to their morphological characteristics (e.g., ornamentation, size, terminal velocity, and mass). Spore dispersal was affected by spore size and terminal velocity, relative air humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. At all sampling distances, most spores were recaptured in the highest traps (1.4 m), indicating a higher dispersal capacity than previously assumed. The spores with the lowest settling speed were the least recaptured in all spore traps, indicating their high airborne potential to disperse over even greater distances. In future studies, it will be necessary to determine the seasonal variation of spore release of individual plants, as well as the potential dispersal of fern spores in situ (e.g., forest understory) and ex situ under controlled conditions (e.g., in wind tunnels).</p>","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aps3.70039","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147564707","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":"","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148023109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Are they two seeds in a pod? Comparing seed rain recovery in grasslands using artificial grass carpets versus sticky traps","authors":"Lauren L. Sullivan,&nbsp;Melissa H. DeSiervo,&nbsp;Larissa M. Kahan,&nbsp;Lauren G. Shoemaker","doi":"10.1002/aps3.70040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/aps3.70040","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Premise</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Seed dispersal is a critical process for plant community assembly; however, natural rates of seed arrival are rarely quantified compared with other assembly mechanisms, especially in herbaceous communities.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Here we compare the utility of artificial grass carpet squares (“artificial grass”) for capturing seed rain with classic “sticky trap” methods. We placed paired sticky traps and artificial grass squares in two grassland ecosystems, added known numbers of seeds of multiple species to each trap, and recovered seeds at one-week, one-month, and two-month intervals.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We found that both trap types lost seeds through time at similar rates, but each trap type had advantages and disadvantages. Overall, sticky traps retained more seeds and measured primary dispersal, but recovering seeds was difficult and hindered by debris stuck to the traps. Alternatively, artificial grass traps measured effective dispersal as more seeds were lost through time to secondary dispersal and granivory, but recovered seeds could be handled easily and retained for long-term storage and germination.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Discussion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We encourage the broad adoption of seed rain studies to improve links between theoretical and empirical community ecology. Both sticky traps and artificial grass traps are useful in measuring seed rain in grasslands but vary in the types of information they provide.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aps3.70040","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147565240","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":"Unlocking fruit dimensions: Quantification of functional traits driving plant–frugivore interactions","authors":"Linh M. N. Nguyen,&nbsp;Evangelia Linda Chronopoulou,&nbsp;Gabriela A. S. Escaliante,&nbsp;Kim Valenta,&nbsp;Omer Nevo","doi":"10.1002/aps3.70036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/aps3.70036","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Fleshy fruits attract animals to ingest fruit, swallow the seeds, and release them in the landscape, thus facilitating seed dispersal and plant regeneration. Attraction of animal dispersers is achieved via attractants such as color or scent, and rewards like sugars, lipids, and micronutrients. In addition to these attractants and rewards, a plethora of fruit and seed functional traits, including size, hardness, and chemistry, can affect the accessibility and attractiveness of fruits to seed-dispersing animals. These functional traits form the interface between animals and fruits and, through trait matching, act as filters in dispersal networks. Yet, despite their critical roles in shaping seed dispersal networks, many fruit traits are not quantified in a standardized fashion, if they are quantified at all. As such, the existing databases of fruit traits used for syntheses lack many functional dimensions. We review the latest developments in fruit trait analysis, focusing on traits relevant for plant–frugivore interactions (i.e., morphology, color, chemistry), as well as some of their drivers (DNA, RNA, and microbial communities). We provide an overview of many existing methods, their advantages and disadvantages, and their application in field conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aps3.70036","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147570121","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":"","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148077488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"DNA metabarcoding reveals greater plant diversity than morphological seed analysis of bird feces","authors":"Carina I. Motta,&nbsp;Bruno H. Saranholi,&nbsp;Vinicius Marciano De Godoy,&nbsp;Marina Corrêa Côrtes","doi":"10.1002/aps3.70021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/aps3.70021","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Premise</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Fruit-eating birds drive seed dispersal in recovering tropical ecosystems, shaping forest regeneration. Molecular techniques, such as DNA metabarcoding, enable diet analysis from feces and can provide complementary frugivory data where dispersal is infrequent, as well as aid in seed identification in hyper-diverse regions lacking morphological reference collections.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We compared the plant taxa detected in bird droppings using DNA metabarcoding and morphological seed classification. Plant DNA extracted from 52 seed-containing droppings was amplified using a universal plant primer for an <i>rbcL</i> mini-barcode. Morphologically detected seeds were cross-referenced with metabarcoding-detected genera.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>DNA metabarcoding and morphological classification of seeds are shown to be complementary methods, with the same plant taxa detected in only 38% of dropping samples. Although metabarcoding did not recover DNA of some seeds present in the dropping samples, metabarcoding revealed an overall higher diversity of plant genera compared to morphological seed analysis.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Discussion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Our results suggest that the use of a metabarcoding approach can be complemented by established seed analysis methods. Diet information obtained from metabarcoding feces may shed light on cryptic bird–plant interactions and potential seed dispersal events, especially in high biodiversity areas.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aps3.70021","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147568064","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":"","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148070922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148023014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148023092","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148077309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}