Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.4
4.5
Journals
Plants
Special Issues
Plant Functional Traits from an Intraspecific Variability Perspective
share announcement

Plant Functional Traits from an Intraspecific Variability Perspective

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021) | Viewed by 8983

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Laura Varone

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: plant ecophysiology; plant functional trait covariation; plant carbon storage and sequestration; leaf photosynthesis and respiration; photochemical efficiency; plant biomass and productivity; Mediterranean sclerophyllous species ecophysiology
Dr. Giuseppe Fenu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Life and Environmental Sciences (DiSVA), University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
Interests: plant ecology; plant conservation; monitoring of plant species; mediterranean habitats; mediterranean plant
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Giacomo Puglielli

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 5, 51006 Tartu, Estonia
Interests: plant ecophysiology; abiotic stress tolerance; plant functional traits; phenotypic plasticity; Photosynthesis; Mediterranean semi-deciduous species ecophysiology; macroecology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plant functional aspects are described by a suite of phenological, physiological, and morphological traits, i.e., plant functional traits (PFT). In the last two decades, PFT have provided a real breakthrough in the functional ecology field, contributing to enlighten the mechanisms underlying plant adaptive strategies to cope with environmental changes. Plant species success depends on PFT co-variation, and at the same time, distribution of PFT across species allows quantifying community functional diversity. So far, a large amount of data has been collected on this topic, and trait sizeable global databases have been built, which have led to expanding our understanding of plants’ response to environmental factors, allowing to identify a global pattern of trait variation along wide environmental gradients. Nevertheless, despite these important outcomes, many aspects still remain poorly investigated. Among them, the relationship between intraspecific variability (i.e., variability at population level) and functional variation within community needs to be addressed. Studies on PFT variations have usually overlooked intraspecific variability, relying rather on interspecific variation, as this variability is considered higher than the first. Intraspecific variability is established by two mechanisms: genetic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity. In response to environmental changes, these mechanisms could act on a different time and spatial scale. In addition, not all traits show the same plasticity degree. As a consequence, within a given species, populations may differ in trait variation response. This source of variation needs to be better understood as it could lead to redefining the global pattern of PFT variation. Considering that most part of the research on PFT aims to postulate a general theory to predict the plant community response to global climate change, increasing our knowledge of intraspecific variability could improve the predictive response species models based on PFTs.

In this Special Issue original research papers, perspectives, opinions, reviews, modeling approaches, and methods that focus on intraspecific PFT variation in response to environmental factors with particular attention to ecological and ecophysiological aspects are welcome.

Dr. Laura Varone
Dr. Giuseppe Fenu
Dr. Giacomo Puglielli
Guest Editors

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

  • morphological, physiological, phenological plant traits
  • reproductive traits
  • seed germination traits
  • plant trait covariation
  • phenotypic plasticity
  • acclimation
  • adaptation
  • environmental gradients

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

22 pages, 1758 KiB  
Article
The Role of Inter- and Intraspecific Variations in Grassland Plant Functional Traits along an Elevational Gradient in a Mediterranean Mountain Area
by Letizia Di Biase, Simone Fattorini, Maurizio Cutini and Alessandro Bricca
Plants 2021, 10(2), 359; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10020359 - 13 Feb 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2644
Abstract
Elevational gradients offer special opportunities to investigate the relative role of intraspecific and interspecific trait variations in relation to stress gradients. We used an altitudinal gradient in the Mediterranean (Mt Velino, Central Italy) to study (1) how community-weighted means (CWM) and nonweighted means [...] Read more.
Elevational gradients offer special opportunities to investigate the relative role of intraspecific and interspecific trait variations in relation to stress gradients. We used an altitudinal gradient in the Mediterranean (Mt Velino, Central Italy) to study (1) how community-weighted means (CWM) and nonweighted means (CM) vary with elevation for plant height, specific leaf area, and seed mass; and (2) how variation patterns differ for inter- and intraspecific functional variability. We tested (1) if elevation influences community functional composition on the basis of the adaptive value of plant traits and (2) if the latter shows intraspecific variations according to the species’ ability to cope with local conditions. We found that different traits showed different patterns, which can be linked to the function they express. Differences between communities were influenced more by differences between their traits (CM) than by the relative species coverage (CWM). Both highest and lowest elevations were the most selective due to their particularly severe climatic conditions. Intermediate elevations were the most favorable thanks to less constraining climatic conditions. Interspecific trait variability was the most relevant component, indicating a low plant ability to cope with environmental variations through phenotypic plasticity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Functional Traits from an Intraspecific Variability Perspective)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

11 pages, 2265 KiB  
Article
Epipactis tremolsii Seed Diversity in Two Close but Extremely Different Populations: Just a Case of Intraspecific Variability?
by Antonio De Agostini, Pierluigi Cortis, Annalena Cogoni, Roberta Gargiulo and Giuseppe Fenu
Plants 2020, 9(11), 1625; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9111625 - 23 Nov 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1699
Abstract
Analysis of the seed morphology is a widely used approach in ecological and taxonomic studies. In this context, intraspecific variability with respect to seed morphology (size, weight, and density) was assessed in two close Epipactis tremolsii Pau. populations sharing the same ecological conditions, [...] Read more.
Analysis of the seed morphology is a widely used approach in ecological and taxonomic studies. In this context, intraspecific variability with respect to seed morphology (size, weight, and density) was assessed in two close Epipactis tremolsii Pau. populations sharing the same ecological conditions, except for the soil pollution distinguishing one of them. Larger and heavier seeds were found in plants growing on the heavy metal polluted site, while no differences in seed density were detected between seeds produced by plants growing on the contaminated and the control site. Moreover, seed coats and embryos varying together in their dimensions were described in the control population, while coats varying in their size independently from embryos were described in plants growing on the polluted site. Seeds from the two studied populations significantly differed in several parameters suggesting that intraspecific seed variability occurred in the case study. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Functional Traits from an Intraspecific Variability Perspective)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 3672 KiB  
Article
Intraspecific Seasonal Variation of Flowering Synchronization in a Heterodichogamous Tree
by Noemi Tel-Zur and Tamar Keasar
Plants 2020, 9(11), 1509; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9111509 - 07 Nov 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1582
Abstract
Heterodichogamous reproduction in plants involves two flowering morphs, reciprocal in their timing of male and female sexual functions. The degree of synchrony in floral sex phase, within and between individuals of each morph, determines the flowers’ potential fertilization partners. Complete within-morph synchrony enables [...] Read more.
Heterodichogamous reproduction in plants involves two flowering morphs, reciprocal in their timing of male and female sexual functions. The degree of synchrony in floral sex phase, within and between individuals of each morph, determines the flowers’ potential fertilization partners. Complete within-morph synchrony enables across-morph mating alone, whereas unsynchronized floral sex phases may allow fertilization within a plant individual (geitonogamy) or within a morph. We documented the disruption of flowering synchrony in the heterodichogamous Ziziphus spina-christi towards the end of its seven-month flowering season. This desert tree has self-incompatible, protandrous, short-lived (2-day) flowers that open before dawn (‘Early’ morph) or around noon (‘Late’ morph). We counted flowers in the male and female phase on flowering branches that were sampled monthly during the 2016–2018 flowering seasons. In 2018, we also tagged flowers and followed their sex-phase distributions over two days at the start, middle, and end of the season. The switch to the female phase was delayed at the end-season (November-December), and 74% of the flowers did not develop beyond their male phase. Differences in male-phase duration resulted in asynchrony among flowers within each tree and among trees of both flowering morphs. Consequently, fertilization between trees of the same morph becomes potentially possible during the end-season. In controlled hand-pollination assays, some within-morph fertilizations set fruit. The end-season breakdown of synchronous flowering generates variability within morphs and populations. We suggest that this variability may potentially enable new mating combinations in a population and enhance its genetic diversity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Functional Traits from an Intraspecific Variability Perspective)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 3326 KiB  
Article
Increased Precipitation Shapes Relationship between Biochemical and Functional Traits of Stipa glareosa in Grass-Dominated Rather than Shrub-Dominated Community in a Desert Steppe
by Ya Hu, Xiaoan Zuo, Ping Yue, Shenglong Zhao, Xinxin Guo, Xiangyun Li and Eduardo Medina-Roldán
Plants 2020, 9(11), 1463; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9111463 - 29 Oct 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1926
Abstract
Understanding the effects of precipitation variations on plant biochemical and functional traits is crucial to predict plant adaptation to future climate changes. The dominant species, Stipa glareosa, plays an important role in maintaining the structure and function of plant communities in the [...] Read more.
Understanding the effects of precipitation variations on plant biochemical and functional traits is crucial to predict plant adaptation to future climate changes. The dominant species, Stipa glareosa, plays an important role in maintaining the structure and function of plant communities in the desert steppe, Inner Mongolia. However, little is known about how altered precipitation affects biochemical and functional traits of S. glareosa in different communities in the desert steppe. Here, we examined the responses of biochemical and functional traits of S. glareosa in shrub- and grass-dominated communities to experimentally increased precipitation (control, +20%, +40%, and +60%). We found that +40% and +60% increased plant height and leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and decreased specific leaf area (SLA) of S. glareosa in grass community. For biochemical traits in grass community, +60% decreased the contents of protein and chlorophyll b (Cb), while +40% increased the relative electrical conductivity and superoxide dismutase. Additionally, +20% increased LDMC and malondialaenyde, and decreased SLA and protein in shrub community. Chlorophyll a, Cb, carotenoids, protein and superoxide dismutase in the grass community differed with shrub community, while +60% caused differences in SLA, LDMC, leaf carbon content, malondialaenyde and peroxidase between two communities. The positive or negative linear patterns were observed between different functional and biochemical traits in grass- rather than shrub-community. Soil water content explained changes in some biochemical traits in the grass community, but not for functional traits. These results suggest that increased precipitation can affect functional traits of S. glareosa in the grass community by altering biochemical traits caused by soil water content. The biochemical and functional traits of S. glareosa were more sensitive to extreme precipitation in grass- than shrub-community in the desert steppe. Our study highlights the important differences in adaptive strategies of S. glareosa in different plant communities at the same site to precipitation changes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Functional Traits from an Intraspecific Variability Perspective)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-4
Back to TopTop