In vascular plants, water and carbon economics are closely coupled. In mosses, this relationship has been little studied but a strong coupling is expected because photosynthesis depends heavily on water content in these plants, i.e. photosynthetic rates are impaired when mosses dry out but also when they get too wet. In a recent study published […]

Understanding how trees mediate the effects of chronic anthropogenic disturbance is fundamental to developing sustainable forest management strategies. Several tree species in Africa are repeatedly defoliated at large scale by cattle breeders to feed livestock. The same tree species are also often debarked for medicinal purposes. These human-induced disturbances can lead to biomass loss and […]

Both intrinsic and extrinsic plant processes affect the fate of flowers along an inflorescence in sequentially flowering plants. In a study recently published in AoB PLANTS, Jadeja & Tenhumberg investigated mechanisms underlying variation in fruiting patterns of sequentially flowering plants using the wild flower Yucca glauca (Family: Agavaceae). These plants start opening flowers on the bottom […]

Nutrient cycling is greatly influenced by dominant plants that contribute high amounts of leaf litter to soils; however, less-dominant and rare species can play key roles in nutrient cycling if they have unique nutrient acquisition traits and provide high-quality litter. In many parts of the world, wildfire is likely to become more frequent and intense […]

Plants responses to environmental stresses are regulated by signalling hormones, such as jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, ethylene and abscisic acid. Plant scientists commonly use marker genes to study which signalling pathways are activated, however, these markers were designed and tested for shoot responses in Arabidopsis thaliana. It is unclear whether the paradigms based on experiments […]

Chlorophylls are degraded and flavonoids synthesized during autumn senescence of deciduous trees. In a recent study by Mattila et al. published in AoB PLANTS, chlorophyll and flavonol contents of individual leaves of a number of deciduous tree species (rowan, Norway maple, silver birch and bird cherry) were monitored non-destructively throughout the autumn. Loss of chlorophyll […]

Intraspecific plant functional trait variation provides mechanistic insight into persistence and can infer population adaptive capacity. However, most studies explore intraspecific trait variation in systems where geographic and environmental distances co-vary. Such a design reduces the certainty of trait–environment associations, and it is imperative for studies that make trait–environment associations be conducted in systems where […]

Leaf morphological, physiological and biochemical traits tend to vary in a coordinated manner as described by the Leaf Economics Spectrum (LES). Nevertheless, some aspects, such as how the leaf trait variation sources affect LES predictions, are still little investigated. In a recent study published in AoB PLANTS, Puglielli and Varone test whether leaf trait variations […]

The sequencing of short standardised pieces of DNA (DNA barcodes) is commonly used to tell species apart. This approach is thought to be of limited value in complex plant groups where species have evolved recently. In a recent study published in AoB PLANTS, Wang et al. use DNA barcoding in the taxonomically complex British Euphrasia […]

Although several studies on the night-time water use of different plant species have been reported, comparative studies under the same climatic conditions of a region are scarce. A recent study by Wang et al. published in AoB PLANTS aimed to analyse the inter- and intra-specific variations in night-time water use in relation to environmental factors […]

Plants respond not only to the environment in which they find themselves, but also to that of their parents. The combination of within- and trans-generational phenotypic plasticity regulates plant development. The light environment also regulates many aspects of plant development, including seed germination. In a recent study published in AoB PLANTS, Vayda et al. investigate […]

Distyly is a well-known floral syndrome, first identified by Charles Darwin, characterised by the flowers within a population showing reciprocal placement of the anthers and stigma. In a recent study published in AoB plants, Jiang et al. use distyly as a model to determine how a key floral syndrome is shaped by nature. Primula chungensis, […]