Annals of botany最新文献

{"title":"Lipid metabolism improves salt tolerance of Salicornia europaea.","authors":"Lei Yang, Yanzhi Wang, Yang Bai, Jiahui Yang, Yunyan Gao, Chenxue Hou, Mengya Gao, Xinlu Gu, Weizhong Liu","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae189","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae189","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Salicornia europaea L., a succulent euhalophyte plant, has been found to exhibit optimal reproductive capabilities under appropriate salinity concentrations. However, the underlying metabolic changes are not yet fully understood.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study conducted a comprehensive analysis combining transcriptomic and lipidomic techniques to investigate the molecular mechanisms of lipid metabolism in response to different NaCl concentrations (0 and 200 mM).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Transcriptomic data demonstrated that salt treatment mainly affected processes including lipid biosynthesis, phosphatidylinositol signaling, and glycerophospholipid metabolism. The expression levels of several key genes involved in salt tolerance, namely SeSOS1, SeNHX1, SeVHA-A, SeVP1, and SePSS, were found to be upregulated upon NaCl treatment. A total of 485 lipid compounds were identified, of which 27 changed in abundance under salt treatment, including the enrichment of phospholipids and sphingolipids. Moreover, the increase in the double-bond index (DBI) was mainly due to phospholipids and sphingolipids. Comparing the acyl chain length (ACL) showed that the ACL coefficient of S1P significantly decreased under 200 mM NaCl.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study suggests that S. europaea adapt to saline environments through altering phospholipids and sphingolipids to improve salt tolerance. The salinity response of S. europaea can provide important insights into the action of lipids and their salt adaptation mechanisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142520802","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":"Macro- and micro-geographic genetic variation in early fitness traits in populations of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.).","authors":"Aida Solé-Medina, Agathe Hurel, Camilla Avanzi, Santiago C González-Martinez, Giovanni G Vendramin, Francesca Bagnoli, Andrea Piotti, Maurizio Marchi, Ilaria Spanu, Juan José Robledo-Arnuncio, José Alberto Ramírez-Valiente","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae190","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae190","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Assessing adaptive genetic variation and its spatial distribution is crucial to conserve forest genetic resources and manage species' adaptive potential. Macro-environmental gradients commonly exert divergent selective pressures that enhance adaptive genetic divergence among populations. Steep micro-environmental variation might also result in adaptive divergence at finer spatial scales, even under high gene flow, but it is unclear how often this is the case. Here, we assess genetic variation in early fitness traits among distant and nearby maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) populations, to investigate climatic factors associated with trait divergence, and to examine trait integration during seedling establishment.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Open pollinated seeds were collected from seven population pairs across the European species distribution, with paired populations spatially close (between <1 km up to 21 km) but environmentally divergent. Seeds were sown in semi-natural conditions at three environmentally contrasting sites, where we monitored seedling emergence, growth and survival.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>At large spatial scales, we found significant genetic divergence among populations in all studied traits, with certain traits exhibiting association with temperature and precipitation gradients. Significant trait divergence was also detected between pairs of nearby populations. Besides, we found consistent trait correlations across experimental sites, notably heavier seeds and earlier seedling emergence were both associated with higher seedling survival and fitness over two years in all experimental conditions.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>We identified mean annual temperature and precipitation seasonality as potential drivers of P. pinaster population divergence in the studied early-life traits. Populations genetically diverge also at local spatial scales, potentially suggesting that divergent natural selection can override gene flow along local-scale ecological gradients. These results suggest the species exhibits substantial adaptive potential that has allowed it to survive and evolve under contrasting environmental conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142520803","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":"Expanding the Triangle of U: Comparative analysis of the Hirschfeldia incana genome provides insights into chromosomal evolution, phylogenomics and high photosynthesis-related traits.","authors":"Nam V Hoang, Nora Walden, Ludovico Caracciolo, Sofia Bengoa Luoni, Moges Retta, Run Li, Felicia C Wolters, Tina Woldu, Frank F M Becker, Patrick Verbaarschot, Jeremy Harbinson, Steven M Driever, Paul C Struik, Herbert van Amerongen, Dick de Ridder, Mark G M Aarts, M Eric Schranz","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae179","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae179","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>The Brassiceae tribe encompasses many economically important crops and exhibits high intraspecific and interspecific phenotypic variation. After a shared whole-genome triplication (WGT) event (Br-α, ~15.9 million years ago), differential lineage diversification and genomic changes contributed to an array of divergence in morphology, biochemistry, and physiology underlying photosynthesis-related traits. Here, the C3 species Hirschfeldia incana is studied as it displays high photosynthetic rates under high-light conditions. Our aim was to elucidate the evolution that gave rise to the genome of H. incana and its high-photosynthesis traits.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We reconstructed a chromosome-level genome assembly for H. incana (Nijmegen, v2.0) using nanopore and chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) technologies, with 409Mb in size and an N50 of 52Mb (a 10× improvement over the previously published scaffold-level v1.0 assembly). The updated assembly and annotation was subsequently employed to investigate the WGT history of H. incana in a comparative phylogenomic framework from the Brassiceae ancestral genomic blocks and related diploidized crops.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>Hirschfeldia incana (x=7) shares extensive genome collinearity with Raphanus sativus (x=9). These two species share some commonalities with Brassica rapa and B. oleracea (A genome, x=10 and C genome, x=9, respectively) and other similarities with B. nigra (B genome, x=8). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that H. incana and R. sativus form a monophyletic clade in between the Brassica A/C and B genomes. We postulate that H. incana and R. sativus genomes are results of hybridization or introgression of the Brassica A/C and B genome types. Our results might explain the discrepancy observed in published studies regarding phylogenetic placement of H. incana and R. sativus in relation to the \"Triangle of U\" species. Expression analysis of WGT retained gene copies revealed sub-genome expression divergence, likely due to neo- or sub-functionalization. Finally, we highlighted genes associated with physio-biochemical-anatomical adaptive changes observed in H. incana which likely facilitate its high-photosynthesis traits under high light.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The improved H. incana genome assembly, annotation and results presented in this work will be a valuable resource for future research to unravel the genetic basis of its ability to maintain a high photosynthetic efficiency in high-light conditions and thereby improve photosynthesis for enhanced agricultural production.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142493409","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":"Parasitic plants show striking convergence in host preference across angiosperm lineages.","authors":"Sebastian A Hatt, Olwen M Grace, Alex R Zuntini, Duncan D Cameron, Chris J Thorogood","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae180","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae180","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>The host specificity of a parasite underpins its ecology, distribution, invasive potential and adaptability, yet for most parasitic plants host ranges are poorly understood. We examine host-parasite relationships across lineages to infer how host specificity may have influenced the evolution of parasitism in plants.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Host preference data for all plant holoparasite species were manually collected from literature and herbarium specimens, then analysed to investigate and visualise host diversity and specificity.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>We reveal a disproportionality in host preference across host lineages: the Asteraceae contains 10% of angiosperm diversity but is infected by 31% of parasite species; meanwhile Monocots comprise 23% but are infected by just 3.2%. Furthermore, we observe striking convergence in host preference: Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae and Fabaceae are infected by six, five and four independent parasite lineages, respectively. We also demonstrate considerable variation in the degree of host specificity among closely related parasite species; a result that does not reflect the expectation of holoparasites - especially endoparasites - as host specialists.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The marked pattern of convergence in preference across disparate lineages points to a common pathway in the evolution of parasitism of eudicots in preference to monocots, which may have in turn have been driven by a divergence in host root and vascular architecture. The unexpected variation in host specificity among closely related species suggests that even apparent generalists may comprise cryptic host-specific taxa. This highlights the value of host preference as an additional consideration in parasitic plant taxonomy. Together, our data point to a complex interplay between ecological and physiological factors driving the evolution of host-parasite interactions. Moreover, they emphasize how little is known about the ecology of most holoparasitic plants, a group of organisms that are especially vulnerable at a time of unprecedented biodiversity loss and extinction.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142493411","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":"Polyploidy linked with species richness but not diversification rates or niche breadth in Australian Pomaderreae (Rhamnaceae).","authors":"Francis J Nge, Timothy A Hammer, Thais Vasconcelos, Ed Biffin, Juergen Kellermann, Michelle Waycott","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae181","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae181","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Polyploidy is an important evolutionary driver for plants and has been linked with higher species richness and increases in diversification rate. These correlations of ploidy with plant radiations could be the result of polyploid lineages exploiting greater niche space and novel niches due to their enhanced adaptability. Ploidy evolution and how it links with diversification of plants across the Australian continent is not well understood. Here, we focused on the ploidy evolution of the Australasian Rhamnaceae tribe Pomaderreae.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We generated a densely-sampled phylogeny (90%, 215/240 spp.) of the tribe and used it to test for the evolution of ploidy. We obtained 30 orthologous nuclear loci per sample and dated the phylogeny using TreePL. Ploidy estimates for each sequenced species was obtained using nQuire, based on phased sequence data. We used MiSSE to obtain tip diversification rates and tested for significant relationships between diversification rates and ploidy. We also assessed for relationships between ploidy level and niche breadth, using distributional records, species distributional modelling, and WorldClim data.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>Polyploidy is extensive across the tribe, with almost half (45%) of species and majority of genera exhibiting this trait. We found a significant positive relationship between polyploidy and genus size (i.e., species richness), but non-significant positive relationship between polyploidy and diversification rates. Polyploidy did not result in significantly wider niche space occupancy for Pomaderreae, however polyploidy did allow for transitions into novel wetter niches. Spatially, eastern Australia is the diversification hotspot for Pomaderreae in contrast to the species hotspot of southwest Western Australia.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The relationship between polyploidy and diversification is complex. Ancient polyploidisation events likely played an important role in the diversification of species rich genera. A lag time effect may explain the uncoupling of tip diversification rates and polyploidy of extant lineages. Further studies on other groups are required to validate these hypotheses.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142493425","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":"Halophytic succulence is a driver of the leaf non-structural carbohydrate contents in plants in the arid and hyper-arid deserts of northwestern China.","authors":"Lilong Wang, Yuqiang Li, Xuyang Wang, Yulong Duan, Chengzhuo Zheng","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae185","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae185","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Non-structural carbohydrates (NSC), primarily sugars and starch, play a crucial role in plant metabolic processes and a plant's ability to tolerate and recover from drought stress. Despite their importance, our understanding of NSC characteristics in the leaves of plants that thrive in hyper-arid and saline environments remains limited.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>To investigate the variations in leaf NSC across different species and spatial scales, and to explore their possible causes, we collected 488 leaf samples from 49 native plant species at 115 sites in the desert area of northwestern China. The contents of soluble sugars (SS), starch, and total NSC were then determined.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>The average contents of SS, starch, and total NSC were 26.99, 60.28, and 87.27 mg g-1 respectively, which are much lower than those reported for Chinese forest plants and global terrestrial plants. Herbaceous and woody plants had similar NSC levels. In contrast, succulent halophytes, a key component of desert flora, showed significantly lower leaf SS and total NSC contents than non-succulent plants. We observed a strong negative correlation between leaf succulence and SS content, suggesting a role of halophytic succulence in driving multi-species NSC pools. Environmental factors explained a minor portion of the spatial variation in leaf NSC, possibly due to the narrow climatic variation in the study area, and soil properties, particularly soil salinity, emerged as more significant contributors.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our findings increase the understanding of plant adaptation to drought and salt stress, emphasizing the crucial role of halophytic succulence in shaping the intricate dynamics of leaf NSC across diverse plant species in arid and hyper-arid environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142493410","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":"Integrating datasets from herbarium specimens and images to treat a Neotropical myrtle species complex.","authors":"Paulo Henrique Gaem, Giovani Carlos Andrella, Olivier Maurin, Volker Bittrich, Fiorella Fernanda Mazine, Eve Lucas, Maria do Carmo Estanislau do Amaral","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae183","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae183","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Herbaria are the most important source of information for plant taxonomic work. Resources and technologies available today, such as digitised collections and herbarium DNA sequencing, can help accelerate taxonomic decisions in challenging plant groups. Here we employ an integrative methodology relying exclusively on herbarium specimens to investigate species boundaries in the Neotropical Myrcia neoobscura complex (Myrtaceae).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We collected morphometric data from high-resolution images of herbarium sheets and analysed it using hierarchical clustering. We posteriorly tested the obtained morpho-groups with phylogenomics using the Angiosperms353 probe kit. We also gathered phenological and geographic information from specimen labels and built phenological histograms and ecological niche models to investigate ecological differences amongst taxa.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>Current circumscriptions of Myrcia arenaria, Myrcia neoglabra and Myrcia neoregeliana are confirmed in this study. Conversely, the four pieces of evidence together support Calyptranthes langsdorffii var. grandiflora, Marlierea regeliana var. parviflora and Marlierea warmingiana as separate from Myrcia marliereana, Myrcia neoriedeliana and Myrcia neoobscura, respectively, contrary to arrangements proposed by previous authors. Integrated analyses also support separation between Myrcia excoriata and two similar, undescribed taxa.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our data reveal the need for major changes in the systematics of the group, with recognition of 12 species. The successful delivery of our study aims was possible due to obtaining robust, high-quality data from museum specimens. We emphasise the importance of maintaining botanical collections physically and digitally available for taxonomic work and advocate their use to accelerate holistic taxonomic solutions of tropical species complexes. This is urgent, given the paucity of funds for fieldwork and unprecedented rates of habitat loss in the tropics.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142456557","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":"High frequency of ambophily in a Brazilian campos de altitude.","authors":"Amanda Pacheco, Pedro Joaquim Bergamo, Leandro Freitas","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae176","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae176","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Ambophily, an intriguing pollination system in which plant species present adaptations to both biotic and abiotic pollination, has been scarcely reported. Most studies have been conducted with a single or few related species from wind-pollinated genera. We here assess for the first time the frequency of ambophily at the community-level.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We evaluated pollen carried by wind in 63 animal-pollinated species from a Brazilian campos de altitude. For those with pollen carried by wind, we evaluated the contribution of wind and animals to seed production with controlled pollination experiments, as well as floral traits and floral visitor assemblages.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>Pollen of 23 species were carried by wind (~37%). Animals and wind contributed to the reproduction of seven species (~11%), including one pollinated by hummingbirds, large bees and wind. These seven ambophilous species presented unrestrictive floral morphologies and generalist pollination.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>We found a high frequency of ambophily in a single community (11%), which represented an increment of ~5% of species relative to all ambophilous species reported in the literature so far. Investigating pollen transport by wind in zoophilous species combined with controlled experiments helped detect ambophily in species that are usually ignored in wind-pollination studies. Our results showed that putative zoophilous species may actually be ambophilous, suggesting that the selective pressures towards ambophily also occur in zoophilous lineages.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142456556","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":"Correction to: Differential growth rate, water-use efficiency and climate sensitivity between males and females of Ilex aquifolium in north-western Spain.","authors":"","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae175","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae175","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142456555","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":"Responses of oak seedlings to increased herbivory and drought: a possible trade-off?","authors":"Marta Peláez, Aida López-Sánchez, Geraldo Wilson Fernandes, Rodolfo Dirzo, Jesús Rodríguez-Calcerrada, Ramón Perea","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcae178","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae178","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Anthropogenic disturbances are causing a co-occurring increase in biotic (ungulate herbivory) and abiotic (drought) stressors, threatening plant reproduction in oak-dominated ecosystems. However, we wonder whether herbivory could compensate for the adverse impact of drought by reducing evapotranspiration. Thus, we investigate the isolated and joint effects of herbivory and drought on oak seedlings of two contrasting Mediterranean species that differ in leaf habit and drought resistance.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>California oak seedlings from the evergreen, and more drought-resistant, Quercus agrifolia and the deciduous Q. lobata (n=387) were assigned to a fully crossed factorial design with herbivory and drought as stress factors. Seedlings were assigned in a greenhouse to 3-4 clipping levels simulating herbivory and 3-4 watering levels, depending on the species. We measured survival, growth, and leaf attributes (chlorophyll, secondary metabolites, leaf area and weight) once a month (May-Sep) and harvested above- and below-ground biomass at the end of the growing season.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>For both oak species, simulated herbivory enhanced seedling survival during severe drought or delayed its adverse effects, probably due to reduced transpiration resulting from herbivory-induced leaf area reduction and compensatory root growth. Seedlings from the deciduous, and less drought-resistant species, benefitted from herbivory at lower levels of water stress, suggesting different response across species. We also found complex interactions between herbivory and drought on their impact on leaf attributes. In contrast to chlorophyll content which was not affected by herbivory, anthocyanins increased with herbivory - although water stress reduced differences in anthocyanins due to herbivory.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Herbivory seems to facilitate Mediterranean oak seedlings to withstand summer drought, potentially alleviating a key bottleneck in the oak recruitment process. Our study highlights the need to consider ontogenetic stages and species-specific traits in understanding complex relationships between herbivory and drought stressors for the persistence and restoration of multi-species oak savannas.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142387436","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}