Patterns of growth, development and herbivory of Palicourea rigida are affected more by sun/shade conditions than by Cerrado phytophysiognomy

Abstract

Plant development is infl uenced by several abiotic factors, which in turn infl uence morphological traits and life history. We investigated whether leaf area, herbivory, toughness, fl uctuating asymmetry, structural complexity and the number of infl orescences of Palicourea rigida are infl uenced by sun/shade conditions or by Cerrado phytophysiognomy (typical cerrado or rupestrian fi eld). We expected to fi nd greater structural complexity, leaf toughness and more infl orescences in sun plants; shaded plants were expected to exhibit a greater degree of fl uctuating asymmetry (an index of plant stress), reduced leaf toughness and greater herbivory. As for phytophysiognomies, we expected to fi nd higher levels of leaf toughness and reduced structural complexity in plants from the rupestrian fi eld. We sampled plants in the sun and shade from both phytophysiognomies. Leaf area, toughness, herbivory and fl uctuating asymmetry, were infl uenced more by sun/shade conditions than phytophysiognomy; leaf toughness was the only variable to show greater values in conditions of sun. Our results indicate that exposure to sunlight is not a requirement for increased plant development, but plants in shade are experiencing stress, as shown by increased fl uctuating asymmetry; increased leaf area, a strategy to compensate for lower light exposure for plants and higher herbivory, which depicts lower toughness.

Ant nest distribution and richness have opposite effects on a Neotropical plant with extrafloral nectaries

“…Leaf number was recorded as we believed that variation in leaf number among individuals could influence the observed herbivory values (see Barbosa et al, 2009). After 2 weeks, we brought all tagged leaves to the laboratory, and we photographed them under a flat piece of translucent glass (Moura et al, 2017). From these pictures, we measured the leaf area and the amount of foliar area loss using the software ImageJ (Rasband, 2016).…”

“…After 2 weeks, we brought all tagged leaves to the laboratory, and we photographed them under a flat piece of translucent glass (Moura et al, 2017). From these pictures, we measured the leaf area and the amount of foliar area loss using the software ImageJ (Rasband, 2016).…”

Composição florística da regeneração de um trecho de savana na Amazônia Oriental

“…As manchas ou encraves de cerrado estão dispersas pelo Bioma Amazônia e encontram-se inseridas, principalmente nos estados do Amapá, Amazonas, Pará e Roraima (Feitosa et al, 2016). São áreas isoladas da distribuição contínua do cerrado, e por esse motivo podem apresentar limitações na colonização de espécies diante da imensa distância da fonte de propágulos, sendo este um fator que exerce influência na colonização de habitats dificultando a dispersão de espécies (Amaral et al, 2019;Lenza et al, 2017;Moura et al, 2017). Ainda que compartilhem espécies em comum à região dos cerrados, as savanas amazônicas são reconhecidas como uma província dos cerrados do Brasil, e diferem das variações climáticas, genéticas e filogenéticas, da história evolutiva e biogeográfica dos distintos grupos vegetais (Costa-Coutinho et al, 2019;Maracahipes-Santos et al, 2018;Mustin et al, 2017).…”

New technologies and mechanisms for greenhouses

“…There are many cases, when an additional artificial radiation shall be used. The type and capacity of artificial radiation systems should be chosen depending on a technology for vegetable and transplant seedlings production as well as in accordance with climate patterns of a construction district [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”