A French-US team studied whether Arabidopsis in its natural range varies by latitude or from a core to the periphery.
Continue reading How does a plant vary across its range?
Botanists find notable genuine genome size variation of up to 1.3-fold between individuals of the same species.
Continue reading The nature of eyebright intraspecific genome size variation
Does fruit size influence shoot structure across a latitudinal gradient in southern Japan?
Continue reading Geographic variation in shoot structure linked to fruit size in Camelia japonica
The study demonstrates extensive variation in floral scent among populations of a geographically widespread species, Arabis alpina.
Continue reading Do flowers produce scent when they’re not expecting visitors?
In a fire-adapted ecosystem, increased fire frequency altered community composition and structure of the ecosystem through changes in the position of the shrub line.
Continue reading Burn it all down: leaf traits change more than species composition
Tiny stones created in plants can help identified which plants were found in past habitats.
Continue reading Image analysis of phytoliths can tell grass species apart
A trade-off between outcrossing and self-pollination is due to an interplay between genes and environment.
Continue reading Dimorphism in cleistogamous flowers in Portulaca oleracea
Heterostyly, a term referred to plant species comprising either two (distyly) or three (tristyly) self-incompatible floral morphs that differ reciprocally in the positions of stigmas and anthers (i.e. reciprocal herkogamy), is considered as one of the most effective mechanisms to avoid selfing and promote outcrossing. This complex floral syndrome, which occurs in at least 28 families of flowering plants, represents a remarkable example of convergent evolution. Therefore, explaining the origin, function and genetic basis of heterostyly has attracted considerable attention ever since Darwin’s classic book on polymorphic sexual systems in plants. Self and intramorph incompatibility is generally considered to play...
Continue reading Intraspecific variation of self-incompatibility in the distylous plant Primula merrilliana
Climate change will not only mean warmer temperatures but also stronger temperature fluctuations. Phenotypic plasticity could help plants to deal with negative effects of temperature variability and allow them to rapidly adjust traits to adverse conditions. Moreover, genetic variation in such plasticity could provide potential for adaptive evolution in response to changing climate variability. In a study recently published as an Editor’s Choice article in AoBP, Scheepens et al. carried out an experiment in which Arabidopsis thaliana genotypes from 11 origins were grown under different fluctuating temperature stress conditions. They found that the timing but not frequency of temperature stress affected...
Continue reading Phenotypic plasticity in response to temperature fluctuations is genetically variable in Arabidopsis thaliana
Within a species, plant traits may vary substantially along environmental gradients. However, is such variation (1) consistent across locations and (2) genetic or non-genetic (i.e., plastic) in nature? In a recent ‘Editor’s Choice’ article published in AoB PLANTS, Pfennigwerth et al. combined field observations and a common garden experiment to assess Rhododendron maximum trait variation within and among three elevation gradients. Their findings reveal that trait variation along environmental gradients in this species is (1) highly population-specific and (2) driven primarily by non-genetic factors (i.e., plasticity). Overall, their findings highlight the importance of examining multiple locations and suggest that trait...
Continue reading Population-level plasticity drives plant trait variation along elevation
Floral scents attract pollinators, and a varied repertoire of floral scents has been documented among plant species. Delle-Vedove et al. survey the results of 81 studies investigating intraspecific variation of floral scents in 132 taxa. Variation was classified according to identity, proportion or absolute quantities of Volatile Organic Compounds, as well as data with the potential to explain variation, such as methodology, plant origin or pollination biology. Variation was evident in almost all investigated species, both among individuals (among and sometimes within populations) and within individuals across different temporal scales. This review article suggests that floral scent variation can be...
Continue reading Intraspecific floral scent variation in the context of evolutionary ecologyBotany One is a blog run by the Annals of Botany Company, a non-profit educational charity.
In addition to Botany One, the company currently publishes three journals, the Annals of Botany, AoB PLANTS, and in silico Plants.
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