Rocks and leaves: Can anatomical leaf traits reflect environmental heterogeneity in inselberg vegetation?

Paula, Luiza F. A. de; Kolb, Rosana Marta; Porembski, S.; Silveira, Fernando A. O.; Rossatto, Davi Rodrigo

doi:10.1016/j.flora.2018.11.020

Cited by 28 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Low SLA can also be attributed to the dry environmental conditions on kurgans. Similarly to midfield islets (Lindborg et al, 2014), inselbergs (Ottaviani et al, 2016;De Smedt et al, 2018;de Paula et al, 2019;Yates et al, 2019), and karst hillocks (Filibeck et al, 2020), kurgans provide relatively dry habitat conditions due to their elevated position and intensive water run-off on the slopes (Deák et al, 2020c). Like in midfield islets and inselbergs, dry environmental conditions led to a low CWM of SLA values because smaller SLA decreases the chance for water to be lost by the plant (Pakeman, 2013;Conti et al, 2017).…”

Section: Plant Traits Of Specialist Species Across the Habitat Typesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The slopes with different aspects and the top of kurgans are characterized by different microclimatic and soil conditions, resulting in contrasting microhabitats (north-facing slope: cool and humid microclimates, low amount of heat load, and high soil moisture; top and south-facing slope: hot and dry microclimates, high amount of heat load and low soil moisture; east-and westfacing slopes are characterized by dynamic and large-scale daily temporal changes regarding microclimates) within the small area of a mound (Deák et al, 2020c). Like on inselbergs (Ottaviani et al, 2016;De Smedt et al, 2018;de Paula et al, 2019;Yates et al, 2019) and in topographic depressions such as dolines (Bátori et al, 2017(Bátori et al, , 2019(Bátori et al, , 2020a, high environmental heterogeneity on kurgans also supports the co-existence of several species with different environmental preferences, resulting in high species richness within a small area (Deák et al, 2020c). The special environmental conditions provided by the kurgan microhabitats also support the development of unique vegetation (Deák et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ancient Burial Mounds Provide Safe Havens for Grassland Specialist Plants in Transformed Landscapes—A Trait-Based Analysis

et al. 2021

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Due to the intensified land use in transformed landscapes, grassland biodiversity is often restricted to habitat fragments inadequate for arable use or for urban development. In continental parts of Eurasia, the ~600,000 ancient burial mounds (called “kurgans”) built by nomadic tribes of the steppes are amongst the most widespread landmarks providing refuge for dry grassland species. In our study by using plant functional groups and functional traits, we aimed at gaining insight into the ecological and evolutionary processes shaping the structure and the composition of assemblages of grassland specialist plant species on kurgans embedded in the agricultural landscapes of East-Hungary. As a comparison, we also studied roadside verges and pristine extensive grasslands in the same region. We found that despite their small size, due to the lack of human disturbances and high microhabitat diversity kurgans can maintain a high species richness and percentage cover of specialists, especially when compared to verges. We revealed that assemblages of specialist plants on kurgans are characterized by traits typical to terrestrial habitat islands such as self-compatibility, large seed mass and tall stature. Kurgans and extensive grasslands were characterized by higher functional diversity (both at the level of single traits and multi-trait based functional dispersion) which is probably due to the higher level of environmental heterogeneity compared to the homogeneous environment in verges.

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Section: Plant Traits Of Specialist Species Across the Habitat Typesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient Burial Mounds Provide Safe Havens for Grassland Specialist Plants in Transformed Landscapes—A Trait-Based Analysis

et al. 2021

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“…Moreover, structural modifications, like leaf and epidermis thickness and development of bulliform cells, can be directly related to drought tolerance (Arias et al, 2018; Hameed et al, 2010, 2012; Mustafa et al, 2019; Selim et al, 2019). It has been also reported that drought stress causes an increase in sclerenchyma cells and cell wall thickness (Basu et al, 2016; de Paula et al, 2019). In our work, after 21 days of drought stress, the sclerenchyma area of the tolerant genotype increased significantly, and bulliform cells showed great development when plants were subject to drought stress.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Contrasting adaptive responses to cope with drought stress and recovery in Cenchrus ciliaris L. and their implications for tissue lignification

Carrizo

Colomba

Tommasino

et al. 2020

Physiologia Plantarum

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Cenchrus ciliaris L. is a widely used species for cattle feed in arid and semi-arid regions due to good forage value and known tolerance to drought conditions. Here, we provide insights to adaptive responses of two contrasting genotypes of C. ciliaris (drought-tolerant "RN51" and drought-sensitive "RN1") to face drought stress and recovery conditions and the implications for tissue lignification. Drought stress caused a reversible decrease in the leaf water relationship and damage to photosystem II, leading to an increased generation of reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxidation. Plants of RN51 exhibited a pronounced increase of antioxidant enzymatic activities. Unlike the drought-sensitive genotype, RN51 exhibited further development of lignified tissues and bulliform cells and had the greatest thickness of the adaxial epidermis. Drought stress led to the rapid activation of the expression of lignin biosynthesis pathway-related enzymes. The transcript level of the caffeoyl-CoA O-methyltransferase gene decreased in RN1, whereas cinnamoyl-CoA reductase transcripts were increased in RN51. After rewatering, the tolerant genotype recovered more rapidly than RN1. Even though the two genotypes survived when they were exposed to drought stress, RN1 showed the highest reduction in growth parameters, and this reduction was sustained during rewatering. The results indicated that the capacity to regulate lipid peroxidation and mitigate oxidative damage could be one of the mechanisms included in tolerance to drought stress. In addition, the development of foliar characteristics, like thickness of the adaxial epidermis, welldeveloped bulliform cells, and intensive lignified tissues, are considered anatomical adaptive strategies for drought tolerance in C. ciliaris. | INTRODUCTIONCenchrus ciliaris L. is an important apomictic forage grass (Kumar, 2017) native to East Africa and Southeast Asia and widely spread in arid and semi-arid regions of the world for feeding livestock

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“…The physiological sensitivity and performance of bromeliads are directly related to their thermal tolerances (Benzing 2000), which also corroborates the importance of this variable. Recently, studies have shown differences in the anatomy and morphology of epilithic species, reinforcing the existence of different adaptations in certain species to deal with drought in rocky environments (Hunter 2016, de Paula et al 2019. Many bromeliads are adapted to environmental conditions with low water availability, being favoured by several functional attributes capable of efficiently capturing water and minimizing its loss.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although studies evaluating plant communities on rocky outcrops have expanded in recent years, including in Brazil (Ferreira et al 2014, Saraiva et al 2015, do Carmo et al 2016, Machado et al 2016, de Paula et al 2019, floristic composition and community structure on cliffs are still little known.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beta diversity patterns of Bromeliaceae growing on rocky cliffs within the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil

Melo

Waechter

2020

Biota Neotrop.

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In recent years there has been increasing attention in patterns of β-diversity and mechanisms related to variations in species composition. In this study, we evaluated beta diversity patterns of bromeliads growing on cliffs immersed in Atlantic Forest. We hypothesized that the species composition varies according to the spatial scale, inferring that there is a replacement of species influenced mainly by environmental factors. The study was carried out on sandstone cliffs included in contiguous but distinct vegetation formations: Evergreen and Seasonal forests. Twenty-four vertical rocky outcrops were sampled. The spatial variation in species composition was evaluated by two β-diversity components, turnover and nestedness. Multivariate analysis and variation partitioning were performed to distinguish niche and stochastic processes. We recorded 26 bromeliad species and a significantly higher contribution of turnover explaining beta diversity. Environmental factors affect β-diversity patterns of Bromeliaceae. However, individually, the environmental predictors do not explain the data variation. Environmental variations spatially structured, and spatial variables determinate the dissimilarity in the composition of bromeliads on cliffs. Thus, our results revealed that both environmental and spatial effects can act together to define the floristic composition of rock-dwelling bromeliad communities.

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Rocks and leaves: Can anatomical leaf traits reflect environmental heterogeneity in inselberg vegetation?

Cited by 28 publications

References 34 publications

Ancient Burial Mounds Provide Safe Havens for Grassland Specialist Plants in Transformed Landscapes—A Trait-Based Analysis

Ancient Burial Mounds Provide Safe Havens for Grassland Specialist Plants in Transformed Landscapes—A Trait-Based Analysis

Contrasting adaptive responses to cope with drought stress and recovery in Cenchrus ciliaris L. and their implications for tissue lignification

Beta diversity patterns of Bromeliaceae growing on rocky cliffs within the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil

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