Taxonomy, chromosome numbers, clonal diversity and population dynamics of Phragmites australis

Effect of climatic gradients on the photosynthetic responses of four Phragmites australis populations

“…We expected that genetically distinct populations of P. australis that differed greatly in their morphological and growth traits would yield different photosynthetic responses when grown at different climatic regimes. A variety of previous and concurrent research on P. australis genotypes has concluded that climatic clines do occur within these plants (Clevering and Lissner, 1999;Lissner et al, 1999a,b;Clevering et al, 2001), but the ability of different genotypes to adapt to changing climatic or environmental conditions is still not fully understood. This study has shown that clones of P. australis do respond to changed environmental conditions by plastic reactions.…”

“…All clones used in the present study from Sweden, The Netherlands and Czech Republic were tetraploid (4×) whereas the clones from Romania were octoploid (8×), except one which was hexaploid (6×). See Clevering (1999) and Clevering and Lissner (1999) for results of the clonal and ploidy analysis.…”

“…Trin. ex Steudel, is among the most widespread and productive plant species in the world, and is one of the few species that can truly be regarded as cosmopolitan as its geographical distribution extends from cold temperate regions to the tropics (Den Hartog et al, 1989;Clevering and Lissner, 1999). Phragmites australis is a clonal species and usually forms dense, nearly monospecific stands in littoral zones of rivers and lakes and in shallow freshwater swamps (Brix, 1999a).…”

“…Large morphological differences may occur between different clones irrespective of site conditions Pauca-Comanescu et al, 1999) and morphologically different clones growing under identical site conditions may also differ in physiological characteristics . This phenotypic variation can be related to variance in chromosome numbers, clonal diversity, plasticity of clones or a combination of these factors (Clevering and Lissner, 1999).…”

Are Phragmites-dominated wetlands a net source or net sink of greenhouse gases?

“…wetlands. Primary productivity and carbon cycling have been studied more extensively in this species than in most wetland plants, as it is one of the most widespread and productive plant species in the world (Clevering and Lissner, 1999). The large total area of reed wetlands and their global distribution also makes the understanding of this species' carbon cycling particularly relevant to global issues such as atmospheric carbon changes.…”