The effect of herbicides on morphological features of pollen grains in Prunus serotina Ehrh. in the context of elimination of this invasive species from European forests

Abstract

Prunus serotina Ehrh. is an alien invasive neophyte widespread in European forests. So far, no effective methods of its elimination have been developed. For this reason, the aim of our study was to determine how herbicides affect the morphological characteristics of pollen grains. This knowledge may be crucial to control this invasive species. The current study was carried out in a research area of 2.7 ha located in the Zielonka Forest near Poznań, Poland (N 52°31′58.016″, E 17°05′55.588″). We tested morphological differences among ten features of P. serotina pollen, based on the samples collected from 15 control trees compared to the 50 trees treated with five different herbicides. In total 1950 pollen grains were measured. We confirmed the adopted hypotheses of long-term herbicide influence on P. serotina pollen. Pollen grains from the control trees had a longer equatorial axis, were more elongated in shape and had the largest range of exine thickness compared to the pollen from the herbicide-treated samples. Exine thickness in the control sample was on average 0.74 µm, ranging from 0.42 to 1.19 µm. The average values and the ranges of this trait in the samples treated with herbicides were larger (e.g. average exine thickness was from 0.90 to 0.95 µm). There were differences in the P/E ranges of variability between the control and herbicide-treated samples. In the control sample the P/E ratio was 1.32–2.04 and elongated forms of pollen shapes prevailed, while in the herbicide-treated samples it ranged from 1.03 to 1.47. The share of deformed pollen grains in the herbicide-treated samples was lower than expected, ranging from 8.7 to 25.3%, while in the control samples it was 6%. Logo and Mustang turned out to be the most effective among the herbicides used in the described research. The two used application methods were found to have an effect on pollen quality.

Pollen Morphology of Some Species of the Genus Amelanchier Medik.

“…Effect of long-term herbicide influence on Prunus serotina pollen studied Wrońska-Pilarek et al (2023).…”

“…The data of the authors on the size of the pollen grains of same plant species are variable and may vary, often depending on environmental factors or pollen treatment in the analyses. Various external factors such as air temperature, precipitation, desiccation, flood stress, drought stress, plant nutrition and effect of herbicides can influence on the size of pollen grains (Dajoz et al, 1991;Delph et al, 1997;Ejsmond et al, 2011Ejsmond et al, , 2015Yamburov et la., 2014;Mehmood et al, 2023;Wrońska-Pilarek et al, 2023).…”

Comparison of Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlation coefficients values for selected traits of Pinus sylvestris L.

“…Rank correlation is less sensitive to outliers than linear correlation because it is based on the order of the ranks rather than the exact values of the data. Correlation analysis is very often performed on forest stand data (Ahmadi et al 2020;Hyyppä et al 2000;Puliti et al 2020;Moradi et al 2022;Wrońska-Pilarek et al 2023a).…”

Comparison of Pearson’s and Spearman’s Correlation Coefficients Values for Selected Traits of <em>Pinus sylvestri</em>s L.

“…Rank correlation is less sensitive to outliers than linear correlation because it is based on the order of the ranks rather than the exact values of the data. Correlation analysis is very often performed on forest stand data [15][16][17][18][19].…”