Tag: plant physiology

plant physiological ecology

Getting better with age: How old Siberian alder grows better in the warmer Alaskan Arctic

Jackson W. Drew, M. Syndonia Bret-Harte, Agata Buchwal, Calvin Heslop This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. The Arctic is rapidly warming, and in response shrubs are getting taller, greener, and more competitive relative to shorter plants across much of the Arctic. This response to warming may provide an important counterbalance to climate change by … Continue reading Getting better with age: How old Siberian alder grows better in the warmer Alaskan Arctic

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plant physiological ecology

Intraspecific variation in trait-size relationships

François Vasseur, Cyrille Violle, Brian J. Enquist, Denis Vile This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. A main consequence of a change in organism size is the modification of the proportional ratio between surface and volume. This modification can be modelled with trait-size relationships, called allometric relationships, which have been shown to exhibit quasi-universal coefficients … Continue reading Intraspecific variation in trait-size relationships

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plant physiological ecology

Plant responses to environmental conditions control the moisture content of living fine fuels

Anne Griebel, Matthias M. Boer, Chris Blackman, Brendan Choat, David S. Ellsworth, Paul Madden, Belinda Medlyn, V´ıctor Resco de Dios, Agnieszka Wujeska-Klause, Marta Yebra, Nicolas Younes Cardenas, Rachael H. Nolan This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. The moisture content of living tissues is an important predictor of the occurrence of wildfires as it affects … Continue reading Plant responses to environmental conditions control the moisture content of living fine fuels

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plant physiological ecology

Tree plumbing system characteristics were not linked to their growth during drought

Chris M. Smith-Martin, Robert Muscarella, Roi Ankori-Karlinsky, Sylvain Delzon, Samuel L. Farrar, Melissa Salva-Sauri, Jill Thompson, Jess K. Zimmerman, María Uriarte This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. Droughts are causing trees to grow less and die more in many forests worldwide. Some tree species are more affected by drought than others, but we do … Continue reading Tree plumbing system characteristics were not linked to their growth during drought

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community ecology

The future of Alpine meadows: Can we predict winners and losers in a warmer climate?

Kristiina Visakorpi, Sebastián Block, Loïc Pellissier, Jonathan M. Levine, Jake Alexander This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. Plant species growing at high altitudes have adapted to cooler temperatures, shorter summers and less competition from the surrounding vegetation. With climate change, the high elevation environment will increasingly resemble that found at lower elevations today: temperatures … Continue reading The future of Alpine meadows: Can we predict winners and losers in a warmer climate?

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plant physiological ecology

The silicon and nitrogen concentrations in wildflowers and grasses vary under different water conditions

Marius Klotz, Jörg Schaller, Heike Feldhaar, Jürgen Dengler, Gerhard Gebauer, Gregor Aas, Anita Weissflog, Bettina M. J. Engelbrecht This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. Wildflower and grass species have to cope with unfavourable conditions, such as drought and flooding. This causes stress to which plants respond by adjusting their growth and nutrient content. Understanding … Continue reading The silicon and nitrogen concentrations in wildflowers and grasses vary under different water conditions

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plant physiological ecology

Maladaptation versus smart acclimation to expected climate change in wooded pasture grasses

Pierre Vollenweider, Géraldine Hildbrand, Davide De Masi, Konstantin Gavazov, Vivian Zufferey, Alexandre Buttler, Georg von Arx This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. Mountain grasslands are characterized by high biodiversity, low management intensity and plant species adapted to cool and moist climate conditions. With climate warming, however, they may undergo losses in biodiversity. Investigating the … Continue reading Maladaptation versus smart acclimation to expected climate change in wooded pasture grasses

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plant physiological ecology

Drought threatens dioecious Populus euphratica

Zhichao Xia, Yue He, Zuodong Zhu, Helena Korpelainen and Chunyang Li This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. R.A. Fisher, a famous biologist, proposed that natural populations, whether there are more females than males or more males than females, will still have a 1:1 ratio of females to males in their offspring. However, the rate … Continue reading Drought threatens dioecious Populus euphratica

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plant physiological ecology

Functional traits and tree demographic properties: a case study in subtropical monsoon forests

Pengcheng He, Juyu Lian, Qing Ye, Hui Liu, Yi Zheng, Kailiang Yu, Shidan Zhu, Ronghua Li, Deyi Yin, Wanhui Ye, Ian J. Wright This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. Functional traits are plant attributes that can reflect plant life-history processes such as carbon acquisition, water transport and nutrient cycling, and include features associated with … Continue reading Functional traits and tree demographic properties: a case study in subtropical monsoon forests

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plant physiological ecology, Reviews

Nitrogen-induced phosphorus limitation affects soil carbon cycling

Min Luo, Daryl L. Moorhead, Raúl Ochoa-Hueso, Carsten W. Mueller, Samantha C. Ying, Ji Chen This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology review article which can be found here. Fossil fuel combustion and agricultural fertilization have more than doubled natural levels of reactive nitrogen (N) inputs to terrestrial ecosystems, whereas the input of phosphorus (P) is relatively small. These unbalanced N and … Continue reading Nitrogen-induced phosphorus limitation affects soil carbon cycling

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