How prickly is a prickly pear?

Nassar, O.A.; Lev‐Yadun, Simcha

doi:10.1560/ijps.57.1-2.117

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…As part of the study on the evolution of plant protection by spines and thorns conducted in our group (e.g. Lev‐Yadun, 2001, 2003a, b, 2006, 2009a, b, c, 2011; Lev‐Yadun & Ne'eman, 2004, 2006; Halpern et al ., 2007a, b, 2011; Ronel, Malkiel & Lev‐Yadun, 2007; Lev‐Yadun & Gould, 2008; Lev‐Yadun & Halpern, 2008; Lev‐Yadun, Ne'eman & Izhaki, 2009; Nassar & Lev‐Yadun, 2009; Ronel & Lev‐Yadun, 2009; Ronel et al ., 2009, 2010), we characterized the thorn/spine/prickle system in the whole native wild flora of Israel. To the best of our knowledge, a whole‐flora approach of this character (defence by sharp appendages) has never been carried out before.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The spiny, thorny and prickly plants in the flora of Israel

Ronel¹,

Lev‐Yadun²

2012

Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society

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To examine whether spininess evolved at random or differently in various life forms and plant organs, we characterized spiny, thorny and prickly organs in the entire wild flora of Israel (294 such species). Of the species, 63.3% defended their reproductive organs (the most-defended organ) and 67.0% defended various non-reproductive organs. Ninety-three species defended both their reproductive organs and at least one other part; 48.3% defended their leaves and 36.4% their stems and branches. Spiny wings defended stems and branches only in herbaceous (annual or perennial) species. There were clear differences between the life forms. Annuals and perennial herbs defended mostly their reproductive organs (95.7 and 83.0%, respectively), dwarf shrubs defended mostly their leaves (54.2%) and shrubs and trees mostly their branches (89.7 and 76.2%, respectively). Trees do not defend their reproductive organs by associated sharp appendages. The differences in defence on various organs among different life forms may influence the results of meta-analysis studies of the optimal defence allocation if such differences are not taken into account. We noted spine, thorn and prickle colours for 167 species with yellow, red, orange and white being the dominant, supporting hypotheses about spines being visually aposematic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use of the spiny Opuntia Mill. fencing all over the Near East to defend crops from herds (Nassar & Lev‐Yadun, 2009) is an additional proof for the defensive character of sharp plant appendages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The spiny, thorny and prickly plants in the flora of Israel

Ronel¹,

Lev‐Yadun²

2012

Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society

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“…In the American cactus Opuntia ficus-indica grown as a spiny fence in Israel for centuries, spine density was found to be about 4,000 per m 2 . 29 If the rattan stems were forming a dense matte, their spines were also at a density of several thousand spines per m 2 , a high spine density sufficient to provide good defense from mammalian herbivory.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rattan spines as deterrence? A spinescence study on different species of rattans

Liu

Mansor

Ruppert

et al. 2020

Plant Signaling & Behavior

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Rattan spines are most often regarded as an identification trait and perhaps as a physical protection structure. In this study, we study the spinescence traits from five different species rattan: Daemonorops lewisiana, Daemonorops geniculata, Calamus castaneus, Plectomia griffithii, and Korthalsia scortechinii. We tested length, width, angle, strength, spine density, cross-section surface, spine color, and leaf trichomes (only for D. lewisiana, C. castaneus and D. geniculata). We also tested whether the spines were capable of deterring small climbing mammals (for Plectomia griffithii and Calamus castaneus) by using a choice selection experiment. Due to a variety of spine traits, we could not categorize whether any species is more or less spinescent than the others. We suggest that spines have a much more significant role than merely as a physical defense and work together with other rattan characteristics. This is also evidenced by our choice selection experiment, in which the spines on a single stem donot deter small climbing mammals. However, this is a work in progress, and we have outlined several alternative methods to be used in future work.

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“…As part of a broader study on the evolution of plant protection by spines (e.g., Halpern et al, 2007aHalpern et al, , 2007bLev-Yadun, 2001, 2003a, 2003b, 2006, 2009aNé eman, 2004, 2006;Lev-Yadun and Gould, 2008;Lev-Yadun and Halpern, 2008;Nassar and Lev-Yadun, 2009;Ronel et al, 2007 we studied the flowering phenology of spiny and non-spiny species of the Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Lamiaceae in Israel. These families include the largest number of spiny species in the local flora.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%