While hybrid plants might be less successful than their parents, if enough survive they can backcross with a parent species. This can help a parent colonise a new territory.
Tag - fitness
Alun Salt
Are ants a benefit or a detriment when they occupy a plant? New research says they may be both.
Research in two new papers shows how ants can interfere with pollination, but this interference is complicated.
When weather becomes less predictable, so do reproductive traits
Both within a plant and within a population, trait variability increases with unpredictable precipitation.
Erin Zimmerman
Tricky flowers: how floral variation in a food-deceptive orchid is maintained over generations
Sometimes it's a good idea not to send a consistent message to your pollinators.
Laura Skates
Evolution of increased vigour associated with allopolyploidization in a newly formed invasive species
Polyploidy (whole genome duplication) is one of the most important processes in plant evolution. Most land plants have an evolutionary history that includes multiple polyploidization events. Allopolyploidy...
William Salter
Does flower height matter to bats?
Is the best way for a plant to attract bats as pollinators to hoist their flowers up high?
The best pollen for Kangaroo Paws is just a leap away
Where does the best pollen for reproduction come from? For Anigozanthos manglesii it comes from surprisingly close neighbours.
Modelling reveals how fire and water shape the life strategies of Pinus halepensis
Is it better to grow fast, or to grow slowly and invest in the future? Structural Equation Modeling reveals that Pinus halepensis cannot decide.
Can a cold snap put a stop to sex?
The alpine plant Ranunculus kuepferi can face spring frosts while growing reproductive organs. Does the cold explain why sometimes the plant doesn't bother with sex?
Correlations of polyploidy, apomixis and alpine environmental gradients
In a recent article published in AoB PLANTS, Schinkel et al. present a study on geographical parthenogenesis, an enigmatic and much disputed phenomenon that involves closely related sexual and apomictic (asexually...
AoBPLANTS
Plant injury can reset the ageing clock in plants but only slightly alleviates senescence
Senescence is the process of losing fitness when growing old, and is shaped by the trade-off between maintenance and reproduction that makes reproduction more unsure with age. Injury to the plant body, however, provides...
botanyone
Demographic consequences of genetic variation for a plant invasion
Genetic variation may play an important role in plant population fitness and invasion success. Li et al. combine genetic analysis and demographic data to investigate the consequences of genetic variation for the...
How environmental stress from transplanting into foreign habitats influences inbreeding depression
Inbreeding depression does not increase in foreign environments: A field experimental study.
Hydraulic adjustment in a pine species across its range
The ability of P. canariensis to inhabit a wide range of ecosystems seems to be associated with high phenotypic plasticity.
