Grazing-induced legacy effects enhance plant adaption to drought by larger root allocation plasticity

放牧诱导的植物遗留效应可以通过较大的根系分配可塑性增强其干旱适应性 为探索植物的放牧遗留效应是否有利于天然草原生态系统应对干旱环境,我们采集了 内蒙古典型草原自由放牧和多年围封样地内的冰草(Agropyron cristatum)和黄囊苔草(Carex korshinskyi)幼苗 进行了温室控水试验。研究结果表明,干旱处理对自由放牧样地采集的冰草和黄囊苔草子株生物量、子株数量和总生物量的影响较小;自由放牧区的冰草与黄囊苔草较强的干旱适应性可部分由干旱处理下较大的根系分配可塑性来解释。本研究结果表明合理放牧是天然草原适应气候变化的潜在管理办法之一。     

Response of resource allocation of Saussurea leontodontoides during its fruiting stage to the elevation

植物资源分配是目前植物生态学研究的热点问题, 主要集中在性分配和繁殖分配两个方面。该研究以分布在青藏高原的狮牙草状风毛菊(Saussurea leontodontoides)作为研究材料, 研究了6个海拔高度上果期植株的繁殖特征及资源分配的差异, 并用异速模型分析了繁殖性状及资源分配与个体大小的关系。结果显示: 1)狮牙草状风毛菊的个体大小、繁殖器官生物量、营养器官生物量、种子数和营养分配均与海拔存在极显著负相关关系, 百粒质量和繁殖分配与海拔存在极显著正相关关系。2)在不同海拔高度下, 百粒质量、种子数、繁殖器官生物量及营养分配与植株个体大小呈正相关关系; 繁殖分配与植株个体大小呈负相关关系; 而营养器官生物量与植株个体大小呈极显著正相关关系。这表明海拔和个体大小对狮牙草状风毛菊的繁殖对策有不同程度的影响, 狮牙草状风毛菊通过增加繁殖部分的生物量和百粒质量来适应高海拔的胁迫环境。     

非结构性碳水化合物与氮分配对美洲黑杨和青杨耐盐能力的影响

土壤盐渍化是阻碍林业发展的重要原因, 杨树(Populus spp.)是中国主要的人工林树种, 探究盐胁迫下植物的碳氮代谢特征与抗盐胁迫能力, 将有助于杨树人工林的可持续发展。该研究利用美洲黑杨(P. deltoides)和青杨(P. cathayana)两个物种, 采用去叶与不去叶处理, 在盐胁迫下研究两种杨树的抗逆性差异。研究发现, 盐胁迫下美洲黑杨的总生物量和光合能力均显著高于青杨。盐胁迫与去叶处理导致美洲黑杨叶绿素浓度和光系统II最大光量子效率显著高于青杨, 表明去叶对美洲黑杨影响较小, 但是加重了盐对青杨的毒害作用。美洲黑杨茎叶Na⁺浓度显著低于青杨, 表明美洲黑杨能够有效地限制Na⁺向地上部分运输。在盐胁迫条件下, 美洲黑杨茎和根比青杨能够维持更高浓度的淀粉、可溶性糖以及蔗糖, 前者较高的腺苷二磷酸葡萄糖焦磷酸化酶活性促进了光合产物向淀粉转换, 保证植物有充足的非结构性碳水化合物来参与渗透调节和维持其他生命活动, 而去叶使得青杨非结构性碳水化合物严重不足, 受盐胁迫影响更严重。盐胁迫下, 青杨分布在脂溶性蛋白(膜系统相关蛋白质)的氮浓度显著下降, 而NH₄⁺、谷氨酸脱氢酶活性与脯氨酸浓度显著升高。研究结果证明, 非结构性碳水化合物的积累、转化和分配是植物抗逆性的重要特征。     

Female differential allocation in response to extrapair offspring and social mate attractiveness

Renewed debate over what benefits females might gain from producing extra‐pair offspring emphasizes the possibility that apparent differences in quality between within‐pair and extra‐pair offspring are confounded by greater maternal investment in extra‐pair offspring. Moreover, the attractiveness of a female''s social mate can also influence contributions of both partners to a reproductive attempt. Here, we explore the complexities involved in parental investment decisions in response to extra‐pair offspring and mate attractiveness with a focus on the female point of view. Adult zebra finches paired and reproduced in a colony setting. A male''s early‐life diet quality and his extra‐pair reproductive success were used as metrics of his mating attractiveness. Females paired with males that achieved extra‐pair success laid heavier eggs than other females and spent less time attending their nests than their mates or other females. Extra‐pair nestlings were fed more protein‐rich hen''s egg than within‐pair nestlings. Females producing extra‐pair offspring had more surviving sons than females producing only within‐pair offspring. Collectively, results show that females differentially allocate resources in response to offspring extra‐pair status and their social mate''s attractiveness. Females may also obtain fitness benefits through the production of extra‐pair offspring.     

Task specialization in two social spiders,Stegodyphus sarasinorum (Eresidae) and Anelosimus eximius (Theridiidae)

Understanding the social organization of group‐living organisms is crucial for the comprehension of the underlying selective mechanisms involved in the evolution of cooperation. Division of labour and caste formation is restricted to eusocial organisms, but behavioural asymmetries and reproductive skew is common in other group‐living animals. Permanently, social spiders form highly related groups with reproductive skew and communal brood care. We investigated task differentiation in nonreproductive tasks in two permanently and independently derived social spider species asking the following questions: Do individual spiders vary consistently in their propensity to engage in prey attack? Are individual spiders' propensities to engage in web maintenance behaviour influenced by their previous engagement in prey attack? Interestingly, we found that both species showed some degree of task specialization, but in distinctly different ways: Stegodyphus sarasinorum showed behavioural asymmetries at the individual level, that is, individual spiders that had attacked prey once were more likely to attack prey again, independent of their body size or hunger level. In contrast, Anelosimus eximius showed no individual specialization, but showed differentiation according to instar, where adult and subadult females were more likely to engage in prey attack than were juveniles. We found no evidence for division of labour between prey attack and web maintenance. Different solutions to achieve task differentiation in prey attack for the two species studied here suggest an adaptive value of task specialization in foraging for social spiders.     

Water availability and population origin affect the expression of the tradeoff between reproduction and growth in Plantago coronopus

Investment in reproduction and growth represent a classic tradeoff with implication for life history evolution. The local environment can play a major role in the magnitude and evolutionary consequences of such a tradeoff. Here, we examined the investment in reproductive and vegetative tissue in 40 maternal half‐sib families from four different populations of the herb Plantago coronopus growing in either a dry or wet greenhouse environment. Plants originated from populations with an annual or a perennial life form, with annuals prevailing in drier habitats with greater seasonal variation in both temperature and precipitation. We found that water availability affected the expression of the tradeoff (both phenotypic and genetic) between reproduction and growth, being most accentuated under dry condition. However, populations responded very differently to water treatments. Plants from annual populations showed a similar response to drought condition with little variation among maternal families, suggesting a history of selection favouring genotypes with high allocation to reproduction when water availability is low. Plants from annual populations also expressed the highest level of plasticity. For the perennial populations, one showed a large variation among maternal families in resource allocation and expressed significant negative genetic correlations between reproductive and vegetative biomass under drought. The other perennial population showed less variation in response to treatment and had trait values similar to those of the annuals, although it was significantly less plastic. We stress the importance of considering intraspecific variation in response to environmental change such as drought, as conspecific plants exhibited very different abilities and strategies to respond to high versus low water availability even among geographically close populations.     

Climate change and the optimal flowering time of annual plants in seasonal environments

Long‐term phenology monitoring has documented numerous examples of changing flowering dates during the last century. A pivotal question is whether these phenological responses are adaptive or not under directionally changing climatic conditions. We use a classic dynamic growth model for annual plants, based on optimal control theory, to find the fitness‐maximizing flowering time, defined as the switching time from vegetative to reproductive growth. In a typical scenario of global warming, with advanced growing season and increased productivity, optimal flowering time advances less than the start of the growing season. Interestingly, increased temporal spread in production over the season may either advance or delay the optimal flowering time depending on overall productivity or season length. We identify situations where large phenological changes are necessary for flowering time to remain optimal. Such changes also indicate changed selection pressures. In other situations, the model predicts advanced phenology on a calendar scale, but no selection for early flowering in relation to the start of the season. We also show that the optimum is more sensitive to increased productivity when productivity is low than when productivity is high. All our results are derived using a general, graphical method to calculate the optimal flowering time applicable for a large range of shapes of the seasonal production curve. The model can thus explain apparent maladaptation in phenological responses in a multitude of scenarios of climate change. We conclude that taking energy allocation trade‐offs and appropriate time scales into account is critical when interpreting phenological patterns.