Annals of botany最新文献

{"title":"Drought stress influences foraging preference of a solitary bee on two wildflowers.","authors":"Annika Rose-Person, Louis S Santiago, Nicole E Rafferty","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae048","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aob/mcae048","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Pollinators provide critical ecosystem services, maintaining biodiversity and benefitting global food production. However, plants, pollinators and their mutualistic interactions can be affected by drought, which has increased in severity and frequency under climate change. Using two annual, insect-pollinated wildflowers (Phacelia campanularia and Nemophila menziesii), we asked how drought impacts floral traits and foraging preferences of a solitary bee (Osmia lignaria) and explored potential implications for plant reproduction.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In greenhouses, we subjected plants experimentally to drought to induce water stress, as verified by leaf water potential. To assess the impact of drought on floral traits, we measured flower size, floral display size, nectar volume and nectar sugar concentration. To explore how drought-induced effects on floral traits affected bee foraging preferences, we performed choice trials. Individual female bees were placed into foraging arenas with two conspecific plants, one droughted and one non-droughted, and were allowed to forage freely.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>We determined that P. campanularia is more drought tolerant than N. menziesii, based on measures of turgor loss point, and confirmed that droughted plants were more drought stressed than non-droughted plants. For droughted plants of both species, the floral display size was reduced and the flowers were smaller and produced less, more-concentrated nectar. We found that bees preferred non-droughted flowers of N. menziesii. However, bee preference for non-droughted P. campanularia flowers depended on the time of day and was detected only in the afternoon.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our findings indicate that bees prefer to visit non-droughted flowers, probably reducing pollination success for drought-stressed plants. Lack of preference for non-droughted P. campanularia flowers in the morning might reflect the higher drought tolerance of this species. This work highlights the potentially intersecting, short-term physiological and pollinator behavioural responses to drought and suggests that such responses might reshape plant-pollinator interactions, ultimately reducing reproductive output for less drought-tolerant wildflowers.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":"153-164"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11805950/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140292569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of experimental warming on floral scent, display and rewards in two subalpine herbs.","authors":"Carrie Wu, John M Powers, David Z Hopp, Diane R Campbell","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcad195","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aob/mcad195","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Floral volatiles, visual traits and rewards mediate attraction and defence in plant-pollinator and plant-herbivore interactions, but these floral traits might be altered by global warming through direct effects of temperature or longer-term impacts on plant resources. We examined the effect of warming on floral and leaf volatile emissions, floral morphology, plant height, nectar production, and oviposition by seed predators.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used open-top chambers that warmed plants in the field by +2-3 °C on average (+6-11 °C increase in daily maxima) for 2-4 weeks across 1-3 years at three sites in Colorado, USA. Volatiles were sampled from two closely related species of subalpine Ipomopsis with different pollinators: Ipomopsis aggregata ssp. aggregata, visited mainly by hummingbirds, and Ipomopsis tenuituba ssp. tenuituba, often visited by hawkmoths.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>Although warming had no detected effects on leaf volatiles, the daytime floral volatiles of both I. aggregata and I. tenuituba responded in subtle ways to warming, with impacts that depended on the species, site and year. In addition to the long-term effect of warming, temperature at the time of sampling independently affected the floral volatile emissions of I. aggregata during the day and I. tenuituba at night. Warming had little effect on floral morphology for either species and it had no effect on nectar concentration, maximum inflorescence height or flower redness in I. aggregata. However, warming increased nectar production in I. aggregata by 41 %, a response that would attract more hummingbird visits, and it reduced oviposition by fly seed predators by ≥72 %.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our results suggest that floral traits can show different levels of plasticity to temperature changes in subalpine environments, with potential effects on animal behaviours that help or hinder plant reproduction. They also illustrate the need for more long-term field warming studies, as shown by responses of floral volatiles in different ways to weeks of warming vs. temperature at the time of sampling.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":"165-180"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11805933/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139032064","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Seasonal and vertical patterns of water availability and variability determine plant reproductive phenology.","authors":"Zhenxing Zhou, Hanlin Feng, Gaigai Ma, Jingyi Ru, Haidao Wang, Jiayin Feng, Shiqiang Wan","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae138","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aob/mcae138","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Changing precipitation regimes can influence terrestrial plants and ecosystems. However, plant phenological responses to changing temporal patterns of precipitation and the underlying mechanisms are largely unclear. This study was conducted to explore the effects of seasonal precipitation redistribution on plant reproductive phenology in a temperate steppe.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A field experiment was undertaken with control (C), advanced (AP) and delayed (DP) growing-season precipitation peaks and the combination of AP and DP (ADP). Seven dominant plant species were selected and divided into two functional groups (early- vs. middle-flowering species, shallow- vs. deep-rooted species) to monitor reproductive phenology, including budding, flowering and fruiting dates and the reproductive duration for four growing seasons, 2015-2017 and 2022.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>The AP, but not DP treatment advanced the phenological (i.e. budding, flowering and fruiting) dates and lengthened the reproductive duration across the four growing seasons and seven monitored species. In addition, the phenological responses showed divergent patterns among different plant functional groups, which could be attributed to shifts in soil moisture and its variability in different months and soil depths. Moreover, species with lengthened reproductive duration increased phenological overlap with other species, which could have a negative impact on their dominance under the AP treatment.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our findings reveal that changing precipitation seasonality could have considerable impacts on plant phenology by affecting soil water availability and variability. Incorporating these two factors simultaneously in the phenology models will help us to understand the response of plant phenology under intensified changing precipitation scenarios. In addition, the observations of decreased dominance for the species with lengthened reproductive duration suggest that changing reproductive phenology can have a potential to affect community composition in grasslands under global change.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":"211-222"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11805934/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142008176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Population decline of the saguaro cactus throughout its distribution is associated with climate change.","authors":"Ricardo E Félix-Burruel, Eugenio Larios, Edgar J González, Alberto Búrquez","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae094","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aob/mcae094","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Climate change is a global phenomenon affecting species, which in arid regions will translate into more frequent and intense periods of drought. The Sonoran Desert is becoming hotter and drier, and many organisms are rapidly changing in abundance and distribution. These population attributes depend directly on the dynamics of the population, which in turn depends on the vital rates of its individuals; yet few studies have documented the effects of climate change on the population dynamics of keystone species such as the saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea). Although saguaros have traits that enable them to withstand present environmental conditions, climate change could make them vulnerable if forced beyond their tolerance limits.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We evaluated the effect of climate change on 13 saguaro populations spanning most of the species' distribution range. Using field data from 2014 to 2016, we built an integral projection model (IPM) describing the environmentally explicit dynamics of the populations. We used this IPM, along with projections of two climate change scenarios and one no-change scenario, to predict population sizes (N) and growth rates (λ) from 2017 to 2099 and compared these scenarios to demonstrate the effect of climate change on the future of saguaro cactuses.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>We found that all populations will decline, mainly due to future increases in drought, mostly hindering recruitment. However, the decline will be different across populations, since those located near the coast will be affected by harsher drought events than those located further inland.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our study demonstrates that climate change and its associated increase in drought pose a significant threat to the saguaro cactus populations in the Sonoran Desert. Our findings indicate that the recruitment of saguaros, vital for establishing new individuals, is particularly vulnerable to intensifying drought conditions. Importantly, regional climate trends will have different impacts on saguaro populations across their distribution range.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":"317-328"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11805942/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141293038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Screening methods for thermotolerance in pollen.","authors":"Madeleine Stokes, Anja Geitmann","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae067","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aob/mcae067","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plant reproduction is highly susceptible to temperature stress. The development of the male gametophyte in particular represents a critical element in the reproductive cycle with high sensitivity to elevated temperatures. Various methods have been used to test the effect of temperature stress on pollen performance or to determine the degree of susceptibility of given species and genotypes. The information gained informs the development of new crop varieties suited to grow under warmer conditions arising through climate change and facilitates predicting the behaviour of natural populations under these conditions. The characterization of pollen performance typically employs the terms 'pollen viability' and 'pollen vigour', which, however, are not necessarily used consistently across studies. Pollen viability is a nominal parameter and is often assayed relying on cellular features as proxy to infer the capability of pollen grains to germinate and complete double fertilization. Alternatively, pollen germination can be determined through in vitro growth assays, or by monitoring the ability of pollen tubes to complete different progamic steps in vivo (ability to reach an ovule, release sperm cells, lead to seed set). Pollen vigour is an ordinal parameter that describes pollen tube growth rate or the efficiency of pollen tube growth as inferred by its morphology or growth pattern. To ensure consistent and relevant terminology, this review defines these terms and summarizes the methodologies used to assess them.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":"71-88"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140858691","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Legumes vary strongly in their quality as hosts for parasitic plants: interactions between the root hemiparasite Rhinanthus alectorolophus and 30 legume species.","authors":"B Moncalvillo, T M Sandner, D Matthies","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf023","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Host identity can strongly affect the performance of root hemiparasitic plants. Legumes have frequently been observed to be particularly beneficial hosts and it has been suggested that they are in general good hosts due to their association with rhizobia, but exceptions have been observed.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We studied the interactions of the root hemiparasite Rhinanthus alectorolophus with 30 legume species. We related parasite performance and morphology to traits of uninfected hosts and the number and size of haustoria. We also analysed sections of haustoria quantitatively using morphometrics.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>There was enormous variation in the biomass and other traits of R. alectorolophus with the different legume species. The suitability of a legume species as a host had a significant phylogenetic component (Pagel's λ= 0.51). Parasite performance increased with the biomass of uninfected hosts. In contrast, host root traits explained little of the variation in parasite performance and there was no anatomical evidence of defence against infection. Parasite biomass was very strongly and positively related to the number of haustoria formed, but part of the variation due to host identity could not be explained by the host traits studied and the number of haustoria, suggesting a role for variation in the quality of compounds provided by the hosts. Damage to the hosts increased with mean parasite mass, but some legumes were tolerant of parasite attack. Sensitivity of the hosts to parasitism showed only a very weak phylogenetic signal (λ < 0.01).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Legumes are not universally good hosts for root hemiparasites. Instead their quality as hosts ranges from very beneficial to very poor. Moreover, clades within the legumes differ in their suitability as hosts for hemiparasites. Parasites grow best with fast growing legumes that quickly produce large root systems with which many and large haustoria are formed.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143370251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Phylogenetic diversity sheds light on the evolution of the unique fern flora of Mount Kinabalu, Borneo.","authors":"Hong Qian, Michael Kessler","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Mount Kinabalu is an isolated, geologically young mountain (the Pliocene and early Pleistocene) in northern Borneo harboring a highly diverse flora with a high level of endemism. It is one of the global centers of fern diversity, but how this diversity has evolved has not been studied to date. We assess patterns of evolutionary legacies in the fern flora of Mount Kinabalu, with an emphasis of testing the tropical niche conservatism hypothesis.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used several metrics of phylogenetic structure, including phylogenetic diversity (PD), mean nearest taxon distance (MNTD), mean pairwise distance (MPD), and their respective standardized effect sizes (PDses, MNTDses and MPDses), which represent different depths of evolutionary history, to investigate patterns of evolutionary legacies in the fern flora of Mount Kinabalu.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>We found that there was a decrease of PDses with elevation, reflecting a tropical origin of ferns and a gradual evolutionary adaptation to colder environments by fewer successive lineages. However, when separating the evolutionary old non-polypod lineages from the modern polypod radiation, we found a decrease of MNTD with elevation for the former, reflecting an ongoing upslope evolutionary trend, whereas for the modern polypod radiation, the inverse was true. Within the polypods, terrestrial and epiphytic species also showed different patterns, with the former showing a hump-shaped pattern for all phylogenetic diversity metrics, whereas the latter showed a more or less linear decline. Again, this suggests different evolutionary histories for ferns inhabiting the forest floor and canopy, due to the influence of the different habitat conditions. Finally, we found that mean annual temperature had a much stronger effect on phylogenetic diversity metrics than annual precipitation.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>We found that the current fern assemblages on Mount Kinabalu show a strong evolutionary legacy that mirrors that of other mountains, suggesting a global consistency in phylogenetic diversity patterns of ferns along elevational transects, presumably due to a combination of dispersal between mountains and evolutionary convergence.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143063307","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Decoding the Intricate Metabolic and Biochemical Changes in Plant Senescence: a focus on chloroplasts and mitochondria.","authors":"Petronia Carillo, Antonio Ferrante","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Plant senescence is a genetically controlled process that results in the programmed death of plant cells, organs, or the entire plant. This process is essential for nutrient recycling and supports the production of plant offspring. Environmental stresses such as drought and heat can hasten senescence, reducing photosynthetic efficiency and significantly affecting crop quality and yield.</p><p><strong>Scope: </strong>This mini-review seeks to clarify the complex metabolic and biochemical transformations involved in plant senescence by explaining the mechanisms in a straightforward and connected manner. It focuses on key cellular processes such as genetically programmed or stress-induced senescence, chlorophyll metabolism and nutrient recycling, while also exploring the roles of signaling molecules and pathways.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Understanding the complexities of plant senescence may help manage crop aging, address climate change, and cut post-harvest losses. Enhancing crop resilience to stress and decelerating aging can reduce the need for overproduction, thereby decreasing pollution and conserving resources. Tackling food waste, which constitutes about one-third of global supplies, is crucial for ensuring food security and fostering environmental sustainability.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143063305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tree age affects key fine root morphological traits but does not interfere strongly with (ecto-)mycorrhizal traits.","authors":"Yu Qin, Oscar J Valverde-Barrantes, Guangze Jin, Zhili Liu, Grégoire T Freschet","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae223","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae223","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>It is assumed that trees should adapt their above and belowground organs as they age. However, most studies to date have quantified these trait adjustments in homogeneous forest stands, confounding the effect of stand aging on soil properties and the intrinsic response of trees to aging.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Here, we examined 11 morphological, architectural, anatomical and mycorrhizal fine root traits of each of the first five orders for 66 Pinus koraiensis individuals of 16 to 285 years old in northeast China, while accounting for soil characteristics (pH and total C, N and P concentrations).</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>Across all absorptive root orders, Hartig net area and mantle thickness, representative of P. koraiensis reliance on ectomycorrhizal association, displayed an orthogonal pattern to traits describing root economics strategy, specific root length and root tissue density. Hartig net area and mantle thickness were not significantly related to root mycorrhizal colonization intensity and root branching intensity. As tree aged, there was a trade-off between increasing specific root length and decreasing root tissue density in all root orders we measured. Trees facing soil conditions with lower N or P concentrations showed higher dependence on ectomycorrhizal fungi.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This work provides evidence that tree belowground economics strategy can change significantly along the life of trees. In the ectomycorrhizal tree species studied, morphological adjustments are most pronounced, whereas mycorrhizal strategy remains largely consistent. The more conservative root strategy of younger trees than older ones contradicts previous results on the aging of homogeneous tree stands, suggesting that individual tree responses to aging in mixed-aged forests may strongly differ from those in homogeneous forest stands experiencing multiple confounding environmental influences.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143063309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Contrasting habitat associations and ecophysiological adaptations drive interspecific growth differences among Himalayan high-mountain plants.","authors":"Thinles Chondol, Adam Klimeš, Inga Hiiesalu, Jan Altman, Kateřina Čapková, Veronika Jandová, Martin Kopecký, Martin Macek, Klára Řeháková, Jiří Doležal","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf014","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Understanding interspecific differences in plant growth rates and their internal and external drivers is key to predicting species responses to ongoing environmental changes. Annual growth rates vary among plants based on their ecological preferences, growth forms, ecophysiological adaptations, and evolutionary history. However, the relative importance of these factors remains unclear, particularly in high-mountain ecosystems experiencing rapid changes.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We examined how habitat associations, elevational optima, growth forms, and ecophysiological and anatomical traits influence interspecific differences in radial growth rates among 324 vascular dicot species naturally occurring in the western Himalayas. Growth rates were determined from annual ring width measurements on the oldest plant sections of over 7,800 individuals from a range of habitats (desert, steppe, wetland, alpine, subnival), growth forms (perennial tap-rooted, rhizomatous, cushiony, woody), and climatic gradients (elevations of 2,650-6,150 m).</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>Habitat associations accounted for 24% of the variability in interspecific growth rates. Adding growth form and height increased the explanation to 42%, and incorporating plant functional traits further improved predictions to 46%. Growth rates were higher in warmer, drier conditions and lower in cold, wet environments. Subnival cushion plants had the slowest growth, while ruderal plants grew the fastest. Desert plants showed higher growth rates, reflecting their drought adaptive strategies, while wetland forbs had lower growth rates due to increased resource competition. Growth was positively correlated with leaf nitrogen content and non-structural carbohydrates (mainly fructans), due to enhanced photosynthesis and stress tolerance, and negatively correlated with leaf carbon and root nitrogen content.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our study of 324 dicot species in the western Himalayas suggests that plant growth in high elevations is determined by a combination of habitat conditions, morphological traits, and ecophysiological adaptations. Growth variations among the highest-growing angiosperms reflect adaptive strategies along the global 'fast-slow' and 'acquisitive-conservative' spectrums. These results underscore the importance of habitat-specific studies for predicting plant growth responses to environmental changes, emphasizing a species-specific approach for effective conservation in fragile ecosystems.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143045458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}