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Plant-Animal Interactions: Highlighting Effects of Plant Anatomy, Natural History, and...
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Plant-Animal Interactions: Highlighting Effects of Plant Anatomy, Natural History, and Environmental Changes

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Ecology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2025 | Viewed by 3304

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Kleber Del-Claro

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratório de Ecologia Comportamental e de Interações, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Cx. P. 593, Uberlândia CEP 38400-920, MG, Brazil
Interests: animal behavior; arthropod–plant interactions; behavioral ecology; plant–animal interactions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The world has undergone rapid changes over the recent two hundred years, leading to the destruction and severe modification of natural environments, as well as an increase in Earth's temperature. In this context, biodiversity is facing significant threats. One of the main factors that produces and maintains diversity encompasses the complex and conditional interactions between plants and animals. Despite our progress in understanding these relationships, several aspects remain neglected, such as the importance of considering plant anatomy, morphology, and the natural history of related plants and animals.

This Special Issue of Plants invites contributions to explore how fundamental aspects of plant–animal interactions—such as plant anatomy and the natural history of plants and animals—shape the outcomes of these relationships. Additionally, environmental factors, including seasonality, play a significant role in modulating these interactions, and current climate change has affected them in noticeable ways. Therefore, this Special Issue is interested in both direct and isolated effects, as well as the more complex and integrated impacts, with regard to the outcomes of plant–animal interactions.

Prof. Dr. Kleber Del-Claro
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • ecological interactions
  • mutualism
  • herbivory
  • plant morphology
  • plant defense
  • plant-animal relationships

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2339 KiB  
Article
The Effects of Frost and Fire on the Traits, Resources, and Floral Visitors of a Cerrado Plant, and Their Impact on the Plant–Visitor Interaction Network and Fruit Formation
by Gabriela Fraga Porto, José Henrique Pezzonia, Ludimila Juliele Carvalho Leite, Jordanny Luiza Sousa Santos and Kleber Del-Claro
Plants 2025, 14(13), 1977; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14131977 - 28 Jun 2025
Viewed by 872
Abstract
The Cerrado, the world’s most diverse savanna, has several adaptations to fire. However, intense and frequent fires, especially after frosts, can severely impact this ecosystem. Despite this, few studies have evaluated the combined effects of frost followed by fire. We investigated how these [...] Read more.
The Cerrado, the world’s most diverse savanna, has several adaptations to fire. However, intense and frequent fires, especially after frosts, can severely impact this ecosystem. Despite this, few studies have evaluated the combined effects of frost followed by fire. We investigated how these disturbances affect plant traits, floral resources, floral visitor richness, and the structures of plant–pollinator interaction networks by using Byrsonima intermedia, a common Malpighiaceae shrub, as a model. We compared areas affected by frost alone and frost followed by fire and the same fire-affected area two years later. We examined pollen, oil volume, buds, and racemes and recorded floral visitors. Our main hypothesis was that fire-affected areas would exhibit higher floral visitor richness, more conspicuous plant traits, and greater fruit production than areas affected by frost only, which would show higher interaction generalization due to stronger negative impacts. The results confirmed that frost drastically reduced floral traits, visitor richness, and reproductive success. In contrast, fire facilitated faster recovery, triggering increased floral resource quantities, richer pollinator communities, more specialized interactions, and greater fruit production. Our findings highlight that fire, despite its impact, promotes faster ecosystem recovery compared to frost, reinforcing its ecological role in the Cerrado’s resilience. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant-Animal Interactions: Highlighting Effects of Plant Anatomy, Natural History, and Environmental Changes)
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12 pages, 500 KiB  
Article
Trait-Based Selection of Seeds Ingested and Dispersed by North American Waterfowl
by Bia A. Almeida, Mihai Costea, Giliandro G. Silva, Leonardo Maltchik, Susan E. W. De La Cruz, John Y. Takekawa and Andy J. Green
Plants 2025, 14(13), 1964; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14131964 - 26 Jun 2025
Viewed by 682
Abstract
There are few studies on the extent to which waterfowl select plant food compared with what is available in wetland ecosystems. We used a new dataset on the presence of seeds in the alimentary canal or feces to identify flowering plant species whose [...] Read more.
There are few studies on the extent to which waterfowl select plant food compared with what is available in wetland ecosystems. We used a new dataset on the presence of seeds in the alimentary canal or feces to identify flowering plant species whose seeds are ingested by North American ducks or geese. These data are a proxy for dispersal interactions because an important fraction of ingested seeds survives gut passage and is dispersed by endozoochory. We compared the plant traits of species whose seeds were ingested with those of species on the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Wetland Plants List (NWPL). Using a global dataset on plant form and function and chi-squared tests, we compared four categorical traits (moisture requirements, growth form, plant height, and seed mass) between species whose seeds are ingested by North American ducks and geese with the NWPL. Our analyses identified significant differences between the trait distributions of plants whose seeds were ingested by waterfowl guilds and those of the NWPL. Geese and ducks (except whistling ducks) ingested more aquatic and semiaquatic plant species than expected from the NWPL. All guilds except sea ducks ingested more herbaceous graminoids and fewer shrubs or trees than expected. Diving ducks interacted with fewer of the taller plants (>5 m) than expected, but otherwise plant height distributions did not differ from those expected. All waterfowl guilds ingested more species of intermediate seed size (1–10 mg) and fewer species of the smallest (<0.1 mg) or largest (>100 mg) size categories than expected. These results help to explain the role of the long-distance dispersal of seeds by migratory waterfowl in plant biogeography and how plant distributions are likely to respond to global change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant-Animal Interactions: Highlighting Effects of Plant Anatomy, Natural History, and Environmental Changes)
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11 pages, 13767 KiB  
Article
First Record of Flower Bud Galls in Senega (Fabales: Polygalaceae): The Case of S. salasiana and Their Effect on Plant Reproduction
by Agustina Martinez, Nicolás Kuzmanich and Alejandro Farji-Brener
Plants 2025, 14(9), 1337; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14091337 - 29 Apr 2025
Viewed by 387
Abstract
We report the first case of flower bud galls in a species of the mainly American genus Senega (Polygalaceae), specifically in the South Andean Patagonian plant species S. salasiana. The galls were found to be induced by gall midges (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae) and [...] Read more.
We report the first case of flower bud galls in a species of the mainly American genus Senega (Polygalaceae), specifically in the South Andean Patagonian plant species S. salasiana. The galls were found to be induced by gall midges (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae) and mites (Acari). We also assessed their impact on plant reproduction by measuring the relationship between inflorescence density (number of inflorescences/plant cover) and gall abundance in two populations next to San Carlos de Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina. Plant reproduction was negatively related to the number of galled inflorescences, suggesting that high levels of gall abundance strongly reduced plant reproductive success. Our study illustrates a novel case of flower galls in the genus Senega and highlights the negative impact of this type of herbivory on plant fitness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant-Animal Interactions: Highlighting Effects of Plant Anatomy, Natural History, and Environmental Changes)
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12 pages, 14358 KiB  
Article
Light Adaptations of Ipomoea purpurea (L.) Roth: Functional Analysis of Leaf and Petal Interfaces
by Zhanlin Bei, Lulu Lu, Zubayda Amar and Xin Zhang
Plants 2025, 14(6), 862; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14060862 - 10 Mar 2025
Viewed by 666
Abstract
In low-light environments, plants face challenges in maximizing light acquisition for growth and reproduction. This study investigates the light-related adaptations of Ipomoea purpurea (L.) Roth, a climbing annual vine commonly known as morning glory. Field and laboratory analyses focused on the functionality of [...] Read more.
In low-light environments, plants face challenges in maximizing light acquisition for growth and reproduction. This study investigates the light-related adaptations of Ipomoea purpurea (L.) Roth, a climbing annual vine commonly known as morning glory. Field and laboratory analyses focused on the functionality of its leaf and petal interfaces. We observed that tendrils of I. purpurea enable it to climb surrounding structures, optimizing light capture. The leaves display absorption peaks at 400 nm and 700 nm, typical for plants that absorb light in the red and blue regions, with microstructural features like protrusions and folds aiding in self-cleaning. Petals, exhibiting grid-like patterns and specific reflectance spectra, attract pollinators such as bees. These functional traits, including self-cleaning mechanisms and specialized light absorption, highlight I. purpurea’s unique strategies for thriving in low-light conditions. The findings offer valuable insights into the potential use of I. purpurea for urban landscaping, vertical greening, and ornamental plant selection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant-Animal Interactions: Highlighting Effects of Plant Anatomy, Natural History, and Environmental Changes)
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