Experimental Evidence Questions the Relationship between Stress and Fluctuating Asymmetry in Plants
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Experimental Design
2.2. Sampling and Sample Processing
2.3. Data Analysis
3. Results
4. Discussion
4.1. Does Decrease in Plant Biomass Indicate Plant Stress?
4.2. Fluctuating Asymmetry and Stress
4.3. In Asymmetry We Trust? Methodological Implications
- The samples for FA measurements should be collected either randomly (in the strict statistical sense because haphazard selection is prone of confirmation bias [47]) or blindly with respect to the expected result. In other words, researchers should take precautions against the (unconscious) selection of objects that best fit their expectations.
- The measurements of FA should be conducted blindly: the measurer should not be aware of the object’s origin and/or of the hypothesis being tested. This is easily achieved by the coding of study objects with random numbers prior to measurements.
- At least a portion of the objects should be measured twice, and the FA should be tested against the measurement error.
- We encourage scientists to publish their results obtained using adequate methodology even when these results are “negative” or inconclusive. This is the only way to make the publication portfolio representative of the actual findings.
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Source of Variation | Reproducibility | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Species | DA 1, mm | Side | Side × Individual | ME1, mm | ME5 | ||||
d.f. | F | P | d.f. | F | P | ||||
Cucumis sativus | −0.56 | 1, 178 | 2.02 | 0.16 | 178, 358 | 147.1 | <0.0001 | 0.50 | 0.986 |
Capsicum annuum | −0.08 | 1, 176 | 0.57 | 0.45 | 176, 354 | 163.2 | <0.0001 | 0.12 | 0.988 |
Phaseolus vulgaris | 1.19 | 1, 164 | 1.31 | 0.25 | 164, 330 | 1143.1 | <0.0001 | 0.40 | 0.998 |
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Gavrikov, D.E.; Zverev, V.; Rachenko, M.A.; Pristavka, A.A.; Kozlov, M.V. Experimental Evidence Questions the Relationship between Stress and Fluctuating Asymmetry in Plants. Symmetry 2023, 15, 339. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym15020339
Gavrikov DE, Zverev V, Rachenko MA, Pristavka AA, Kozlov MV. Experimental Evidence Questions the Relationship between Stress and Fluctuating Asymmetry in Plants. Symmetry. 2023; 15(2):339. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym15020339
Chicago/Turabian StyleGavrikov, Dmitry E., Vitali Zverev, Maksim A. Rachenko, Aleksey A. Pristavka, and Mikhail V. Kozlov. 2023. "Experimental Evidence Questions the Relationship between Stress and Fluctuating Asymmetry in Plants" Symmetry 15, no. 2: 339. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym15020339
APA StyleGavrikov, D. E., Zverev, V., Rachenko, M. A., Pristavka, A. A., & Kozlov, M. V. (2023). Experimental Evidence Questions the Relationship between Stress and Fluctuating Asymmetry in Plants. Symmetry, 15(2), 339. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym15020339