Quantifying the response of plant water status to environmental conditions and its effect on carbon acquisition are essential for simulating plant growth and fruit composition, especially in the context of climate change. Zhu et al. present GrapevineXL, a functional-structural grapevine model that couples the dynamics of water transport from soil to leaf with gas exchange […]

Several studies have found seasonal and temporal variability in leaf photosynthesis parameters in different crops. Poirier-Pocovi et al. use six-year-old fruit-bearing branches of ten-year-old apple trees to study and model the seasonal variation of photosynthetic parameters in leaves of vegetative shoots, as a function of global fruit load (at the branch level), with and without […]

In the western United States, Clarkia (Onagraceae) taxa vary in mating system, life history, and photosynthetic physiology. Self-fertilizing taxa bloom earlier in the year and have higher rates of photosynthesis than their most closely related cross-pollinating species. By performing a multi-generational artificial selection experiment, Emms et al. find evidence that these traits evolved independently of […]

Virtual assessment based on root system architecture (RSA) modelling has great value in the optimisation of core-sampling strategies. Based on the measurement dataset of two maize cultivars having contrasting axile root angles, Wu et al. construct contrasting three-dimensional RSA models of individual maize plants in which the different lateral rooting angles are represented. The accuracies […]

Boraginales are typically characterized by a dense cover of stiff, mineralized trichomes, likely providing protection against herbivores. These trichomes have long been known to be mineralized with silica. Mustafa et al. investigate detailed biomineralization patterns in representative species from nine families of the order Boraginales by using cryo-SEM and EDX element analysis. Three zones (tip, […]

Experimental results of salinity effects on cucumber (Cucumis sativus, Cucurbitaceae) can be interpreted with the help of a functional-structural plant (FSP) model. Chen et al. use this novel approach to quantify different salinity effects on canopy photosynthesis and discover interactions between plant architecture, stomatal regulation and light conditions. Salinity effects on plant architecture and photosynthetic […]

Triaperturate pollen is the most conspicuous synapomorphy of the highly successful eudicot clade. It was previously suggested that this pollen morphology represents the major evolutionary adaptation, and that the stasis of triaperturate pollen is likely the result of selective advantage provided by this morphology. Arabidopsis mutants producing pollen with different aperture numbers allows Albert et […]

Lehnebach et al. review the diverse and multi-disciplinary uses of the Pipe Model Theory (PMT) and associated properties, and scrutinize their validity in the light of current anatomical and physiological knowledge. They discuss applications and modifications of the PMT theory in the context of biomass allocation and hydraulic models, with a particular focus on its […]

Messina (Melilotus siculus, Fabaceae) is a waterlogging-tolerant annual forage legume, but data were lacking for the effects of waterlogging on nodulated plants reliant on N2 fixation. Konnerup et al. find that plants inoculated with the appropriate rhizobia, Ensifer (syn. Sinorhizobium) medicae, formed nodules. Nodulated plants grew similarly well as plants fed NO3–, both in drained […]

Nitrogen deposition and fire regime suppression are key drivers of vegetation change in urbanising grasslands. In the natural grasslands that surround Melbourne, Australia, some native species have become rarer (decreaser species) across the landscape, while others have become more widespread (increaser species). In this study, Zeeman and Morgan examine experimentally the response of increaser and […]

The need to integrate the expanding body of knowledge in the plant sciences has led to the development of sophisticated modelling approaches, such as functional-structural plant (FSP) modelling, which are the result of cross-fertilization between the domains of plant science, computer science and mathematics. FSP models simulate growth and morphology of individual plants and interactions […]

The presence in the specimens of both epicormic shoots and traumatic growth zones, combined with the observation of some disorientation of the wood structure in some parts of the trunks, suggest that these trees were growing under more stressful conditions than previously described trees from the Fremouw Formation.