phenotypic plasticity Archives

How does a plant vary across its range?

A French-US team studied whether Arabidopsis in its natural range varies by latitude or from a core to the periphery.

Plants in a greenhouse in rows and columns. Leaves of the plants sit as rosettes above the soil. Many of the plants have clear cylinders over the rosettes and a funnel. Out of the funnel for many plants is a stem bearing flowers.

Transgenerational effects of heat stress in Arabidopsis thaliana

Heat stress can have transgenerational effects on a plant’s offspring but how important are the timing and frequency of these events?

Ecosystems

Roles of wood anatomical traits in the coexistence of Mexican oak species

Can wood anatomical traits of oak species explain their coexistence along environmental gradients in the mountains of Mexico?

Cells, Genes & Molecules Computational Models Growth & Development

Simulating grass phenotypic plasticity as an emergent property

Integrating plant functioning at organ scale can simulate the phenotypic plasticity of plants.

Ecosystems Taxonomy & Evolution

Phenotypic plasticity to nutrient availability in a wetland invasive species

Are triploid Butomus umbellatus plants more plastic to nutrient availability than diploid plants and does this make them more invasive?

Cells, Genes & Molecules

Plants can become less uniform by duplicating their genome

Though the experiment was limited to two genotypes of a single species, these findings support the idea that whole genome duplication can indeed increase plasticity.

Growth & Development

Local adaptation of invasive species occurs in clonal plants too

In transplant experiments, closely-related sexual and asexual species both showed evidence of local adaptation.

Close Encounters

Disentangling domestication and environmental effects on plant-herbivore interactions

How has domestication affected herbivory and anti-herbivore defenses of chaya, a plant crop grown for it’s leaves in the Yucatan pensula?

Ecosystems

Non-native plant species climb mountains in a different way to native species

One way invasive species spread through an area is by harnessing variability in traits, but this doesn’t match observations of invasive species on the slopes of Mount Teide.