Knowledge of plant architecture allows for the retrospective study of plant development, and through modelling and simulation this development can be linked to environmental constraints and to predict responses to global change. In a recent study published in AoBP, Buissart et al. aimed to determine some of the main endogenous (ontogenic, topological) and exogenous (climate, […]

Butia is a neotropical genus of palms whose identification is based mostly on characters of external morphology, which are sometimes variable or inadequate for species differentiation. A recent study by Sant’Anna-Santos et al., and published as an Editor’s Choice article in AoBP, aimed to verify if leaf anatomical characteristics of 18 Butia species could used to […]

Climate change will not only mean warmer temperatures but also stronger temperature fluctuations. Phenotypic plasticity could help plants to deal with negative effects of temperature variability and allow them to rapidly adjust traits to adverse conditions. Moreover, genetic variation in such plasticity could provide potential for adaptive evolution in response to changing climate variability. In […]

Native and alien trees associate with a wide range of beneficial fungi, but the few studies of these interactions tend to focus only on a few plant species or locations at a time. This approach limits broad scale understanding of functional shifts and changes in interaction network structure that may occur following introduction. An ectomycorrhizal […]

Plants simultaneously interact with beneficial and antagonistic organisms such as mycorrhizal fungi and herbivores, respectively. Both mycorrhizae and herbivore damage cause rapid changes in source–sink dynamics within a plant. Mycorrhizae create long-term sinks for carbon within the roots while damage by leaf-chewing herbivores causes temporary whole-plant shifts in carbon and nitrogen allocation. Thus, induced responses […]

Many plant species are limited to habitats relatively unaffected by anthropogenic disturbance, so protecting these undisturbed habitats is essential for plant conservation. Coefficients of conservatism (C values) are numeric values assigned to plant species to indicate their sensitivity to anthropogenic disturbance, and these values are increasingly used to prioritize natural areas for conservation and monitor […]

Although the negative effects of root herbivores on plant fitness are expected to be similar to those of aboveground herbivores, the study of belowground plant defenses is limited compared to the rich literature on aboveground defenses. Current theory predicts that concentrations of defensive chemicals above and belowground should be correlated, as the evolutionary drivers that […]

Seed dormancy status regulates the response of seeds to environmental cues that can trigger germination. Anigozanthos flavidus (Haemodoraceae) produces seeds with morphophysiological dormancy that are known to germinate in response to smoke, but embryo growth dynamics and germination traits in response to temperatures and after-ripening have not been well characterized. In a recent Editor’s Choice article […]

Flowering time is shifting with climate change. Pollinators may respond differently to changes in temperature and moisture than the flowers they visit, resulting in a phenological  mismatch between species. Assessing the potential for such mismatches requires an understanding of the environmental factors that cue flowering and pollinator activity. Biological context is key to determining specific […]

Interactions between plants and soil microbes play an important role in structuring terrestrial ecosystems by influencing plant growth and competitive ability. Abiotic conditions such as varying nutrient levels or environmental stress can alter the direction and magnitude of plant–microbe interactions. It is therefore possible that the effects of changing climates, including changing water availability, could […]

Fragmentation of natural habitats generally has negative effects on the reproductive success of many plant species; however, little is known about epiphytic plants. Epiphytes are non-parasitic plants that grow on other plants and they represent almost 10 % of vascular plant species. They are particularly important to tropical forest ecosystems due to their high taxonomic […]

Plants are regularly attacked by enemies such as herbivores and pathogens. Not surprisingly, plants have evolved ways of coping with these attacks. One way is to tolerate attack and compensate for lost or damaged tissue with regrowth of additional tissue. While ecological models of plant defence are common, there has been less effort to make […]