Morphology and ecology of Pacific sturgeons

The six North Pacific members of the genus Acipenser have generally similar environmental requirements and share several specific morphological features. This Pacific group consists of green sturgeon, Acipenser medirostris, Sakhalin sturgeon, A. mikadoi, white sturgeon, A. transmontanus, Chinese sturgeon, A. sinensis, Dabry’s sturgeon, A. dabryanus and Amur sturgeon, A. schrenkii. A qualitative morphological examination of these species revealed synapomorphic characters that suggest close phyolgenetic relationships resulting from common ancestry of eastern and western species within the Pacific Rim. An evolutionary taxonomic approach, considering a reduction of characters from east to west, would suggest an Asian ancestry for all Pacific sturgeons. In contrast however, a phylogenetic approach using derived character states suggests a North American ancestry. Besides a common ancestry for Chinese and American sturgeons, the taxonomic status of A. mikadoi is discussed.     

Game theory and plant ecology

The fixed and plastic traits possessed by a plant, which may be collectively thought of as its strategy, are commonly modelled as density‐independent adaptations to its environment. However, plant strategies may also represent density‐ or frequency‐dependent adaptations to the strategies used by neighbours. Game theory provides the tools to characterise such density‐ and frequency‐dependent interactions. Here, we review the contributions of game theory to plant ecology. After briefly reviewing game theory from the perspective of plant ecology, we divide our review into three sections. First, game theoretical models of allocation to shoots and roots often predict investment in those organs beyond what would be optimal in the absence of competition. Second, game theoretical models of enemy defence suggest that an individual's investment in defence is not only a means of reducing its own tissue damage but also a means of deflecting enemies onto competitors. Finally, game theoretical models of trade with mutualistic partners suggest that the optimal trade may reflect competition for access to mutualistic partners among plants. In short, our review provides an accessible entrance to game theory that will help plant ecologists enrich their research with its worldview and existing predictions.     

Reproductive ecology and the persistence of an endangered plant

Amsinckia grandiflora (large-flowered fiddleneck)is an extremely rare California annual wildflower, known only from threepopulations. We conducted field and greenhouse experiments to compare the rareheterostyle with a cryptic self-incompatibility system (A.grandiflora) to a common, self-compatible, homostylous, sympatriccongener (A. tessellata). Inter-species comparisons ofadult plants suggested that in the greenhouse, A.grandiflora balances low floral seed set (seeds per flower) withincreased floral output (flowers/plant) and a greater number of flowers perinflorescence. Seed set from active self-, intra- and inter-morph pollinationswas high in A. grandiflora, indicating that the crypticself-incompatibility system does not prevent seed set in the species. In thefield, A. grandiflora floral output was only slightlygreater than for A. tessellata, and did not fully balance lowerfloral seed set. Amsinckia tessellata average seed weightwas lower than that of A. grandiflora, which, along with the lowernumber of flowers produced, indicated lower maternal investment per nutlet thanfor A. grandiflora. Under conditions of unlimited resources, itappears that A. grandiflora fitness is not intrinsicallylimited when compared to its weedy relative A. tessellata.The differences in nutlet output between A. grandiflora andA. tessellata under field conditions are more likely due todifferential responses to extrinsic factors such as competition and pollinatoravailability.     

Landscape issues in plant ecology

In the last decade, we have seen the emergence and consolidation of a conceptual framework that recognizes the landscape as an ecological unit of interest. Plant ecologists have long emphasized landscape-scale issues, but there has been no recent attempt to define how landscape concepts are now integrated in vegetation studies. To help define common research paradigms in both landscape and plant ecology, we discuss issues related to three main landscape concepts in vegetation researches, reviewing theoretical influences and emphasizing recent developments. We first focus on environmental relationships, documenting how vegetation patterns emerge from the influence of local abiotic conditions. The landscape is the physical environment. Disturbances are then considered, with a particular attention to human-driven processes that often overrule natural dynamics. The landscape is a dynamic space. As environmental and historical processes generate heterogeneous patterns, we finally move on to stress current evidence relating spatial structure and vegetation dynamics. This relates to the concept of a landscape as a patch-corridor-matrix mosaic. Future challenges involve: 1) the capacity to evaluate the relative importance of multiple controlling processes at broad spatial scale; 2) better assessment of the real importance of the spatial configuration of landscape elements for plant species and finally; 3) the integration of natural and cultural processes and the recognition of their interdependence in relation to vegetation management issues in human landscapes.     

Topical gradients in plant ecology

Plant ecology spans multiple levels of biological organization and spatio-temporal scales, and over four dozen plant ecology textbooks have been published since Warming??s (1895) ??Oecology of Plants.?? With increasing emphasis on specialization, students and teachers can feel paralyzed by the vast literature, and as such may lack an adequate appreciation of the history of the field. The objective of this study was to derive a comprehensive set of topics that are covered in plant ecology textbooks, and to ask (1) what are the most important topical gradients among textbooks, and (2) has the emphasis of topics changed over time? The NMS ordination determined that the first gradient represented a clear contrast in emphasis on physiological ecology versus community ecology. The second gradient represented a contrast in emphasis on abiotic environmental factors versus biotic factors. Negative interactions, growth, demography, gas exchange, mineral nutrition, stress, diversity, disturbance, herbivory, paleoecology, ecosystem ecology, pollution, and global change have increased in emphasis over time. The increasing reliance on data and the number of authors per textbook illustrates how the discipline has matured into a rigorous quantitative science that requires a diversity of specializations. These results can be used to inform the development of curricula within a single course or across several years of study, and to assist the development of new and revised textbooks. Plant ecologists need to be familiar with this core set of topics in addition to becoming an expert in a few of them.     

Concepts in empirical plant ecology

ABSTRACT

In this review, I discuss, and partly challenge, a number of paradigms, assumptions and definitions that apply to many fields of plant ecology. The main points include the need for a distinction between a growth- or yield-oriented versus a fitness- or biodiversity-oriented concept of limitation and stress, and the challenges of a meaningful handling of plant traits and their functional significance. Further, I discuss the central role of biological variation in plant ecology, including the various forms of adaptive adjustments, and the task of scaling plant responses in space and time. I close this review with a critical comment on data stratification in the analysis of large biological datasets (e.g. meta-analysis).     

入侵植物美洲商陆的传粉生态学特性

从开花物候、花朵数量性状、花粉活力、花粉组织化学、柱头可授性、花粉在柱头上的萌发状况、杂交指数、花粉胚珠比、传粉媒介以及繁育系统等方面,研究了外来入侵植物美洲商陆(Phytolacca americana)的传粉生态学特性,为揭示该物种成功入侵的机理提供依据.结果表明:美洲商陆种群花期可达45~70 d,单花花期为2~3d,可进一步分为杯状花期、花瓣平展期、花瓣下垂期、花瓣反卷期;花冠直径在下垂期最大且不超过1 cm,花药与柱头间距离在1 ~2.5 mm,有利于自交的发生;花瓣平展期与花瓣下垂期花粉活力差异显著(P<0.05),杯状花期与花瓣平展期花粉活力差异不显著(P>0.05),花瓣平展期花粉活力可达85%;雌蕊柱头可授性在花瓣平展期最强;杯状花期合生柱头开裂,花瓣平展期柱头9~ 10裂,接受花粉的表面积增大;花药散粉时间与合生柱头开裂时间相吻合,有助于柱头接受花粉;扫描电镜下观察到花粉在花瓣平展期的柱头上已萌发;每朵花可提供1667~3222粒花粉,胚珠9~10个,花粉胚珠比(P/O)为340.88±34.99,表现为兼性自交;美洲商陆杂交指数(OCI)为3,花粉粒属于含脂型,主要传粉昆虫有蜜蜂、胡蜂、食蚜蝇、细腰蜂.综上所述,美洲商陆自交亲和,花粉活力高、柱头可授性强,且高花粉活力与强柱头可授性出现在相同的时期,增加了花粉落置柱头及在柱头上萌发的几率;虫媒花,访花者行为与花朵相适应,有利于提高坐果率,这样的繁殖机制与传粉特点是美洲商陆成功入侵的主要因素之一.     

Microbial ecology of fermenting plant materials

Abstract The lactic acid fermentation of plant materials is presented from an ecological perspective emphasizing microbial interactions and their influence on the production of fermented plant foods and silage. The plant lactic acid bacteria are discussed in terms of evolution; epiphytic function; physical distribution within fermented material; substrates and products; microbial sequences in fermentation; interactions among species; pure culture fermentation; and starter culture development.     

Closing the gap between plant ecology and Quaternary palaeoecology

Ecology and Quaternary palaeoecology have largely developed as parallel disciplines. Although both pursue related questions, information exchange is often hampered by particularities of the palaeoecological data and a communication gap has been perceived between the disciplines. Based on selected topics and developments mainly in Quaternary palaeoecology, we show that both disciplines have converged somewhat during recent years, while we still see untapped potential for closer interactions. Macroecology is probably the discipline that most easily combines different time scales and where co‐operations between palaeoecologists, geneticists and vegetation modellers have been inspiring. Quantitative vegetation reconstructions provide robust estimates of tree composition and land cover at different spatial scales, suitable for testing hypotheses about long‐term vegetation changes or as quantitative background data in studies on contemporary vegetation patterns. Palaeo data also hold yet unexplored potential to study the drivers of long‐term diversity, and aspects of functional diversity may facilitate comparisons between continents and over glacial–interglacial cycles.