Functional Traits of Terrestrial Plants in the Intertidal: A Review on Mangrove Trees

Baptism by fire: the pivotal role of ancient conflagrations in evolution of the Earth's flora

National Science Review ◽

10.1093/nsr/nwx041 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 237-254 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Tianhua He ◽

Byron B Lamont

Keyword(s):

Functional Traits ◽

Land Surface ◽

Fire Suppression ◽

Atmospheric Oxygen ◽

Land Plants ◽

Terrestrial Plants ◽

Geological Time ◽

Origin And Evolution ◽

Plant Groups ◽

And Function

Abstract Fire became a defining feature of the Earth's processes as soon as land plants evolved 420 million years ago and has played a major role in shaping the composition and physiognomy of many ecosystems ever since. However, there remains a general lack of appreciation of the place of fire in the origin, evolution, ecology and conservation of the Earth's biodiversity. We review the literature on the presence of fire throughout the Earth's history following the evolution of land plants and examine the evidence for the origin and evolution of adaptive functional traits, biomes and major plant groups in relation to fire. We show that: (1) fire activities have fluctuated throughout geological time due to variations in climate, and more importantly in atmospheric oxygen, as these affected fuel levels and flammability; (2) fire promoted the early evolution and spread of major terrestrial plant groups; (3) fire has shaped the floristics, structure and function of major global biomes; and (4) fire has initiated and maintained the evolution of a wide array of fire-adapted functional traits since the evolution of land plants. We conclude that fire has been a fundamental agent of natural selection on terrestrial plants throughout the history of life on the Earth's land surface. We suggest that a paradigm shift is required to reassess ecological and evolutionary theories that exclude a role for fire, and also there is a need to review fire-suppression policies on ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation in global fire-prone regions.

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Effect of Water Exchange Rate on Interspecies Competition Between Submerged Macrophytes: Functional Trait Hierarchy Drives Competition

10.21203/rs.3.rs-201636/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ying Pan ◽

Duanyang Yuan ◽

Qihang Wu ◽

Lin Jin ◽

Mingli Xie ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Exchange Rate ◽

Functional Traits ◽

Water Exchange ◽

Submerged Macrophytes ◽

Terrestrial Plants ◽

Myriophyllum Aquaticum ◽

Replacement Series ◽

Interspecies Competition ◽

Water Exchange Rate ◽

Trait Similarity

Abstract Aims: Although the relative contributions of the “competition-trait similarity” and “competition-trait hierarchy” hypotheses in predicting competitive outcomes in response to environmental variation has recently been investigated in terrestrial plants, their validity in aquatic plants remain poorly understood, particularly in terms of variation in the water exchange rate (WER). Methods: To this end, this study investigated the influence of WER variation on interspecies competition and functional traits in two pairs of submerged macrophytes (Vallisneria natans vs. Myriophyllum aquaticum and V. natans vs. Myriophyllum spicatum) under three levels of WER using the replacement series experiment. Results: Results showed that V. natans was a stronger competitor than either Myriophyllum species in static waterbodies. However, the relative competitive ability of V. natans consistently decreased with increasing WER and decreasing its planting proportion, which would eventually change it from a stronger to weaker competitor. Between species pairs, most functional traits showed competently opposite patterns to increasing WER and decreasing the planting proportion of V. natans. Conclusions: Our results indicate that WER affected the outcome of interspecies competition between submerged macrophyte species, and moreover, the relative competition ability of each species within a pair was linked strongly to species’ competition-trait hierarchy than to competition-trait similarity.

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Ecology and biogeography in the introduction to “De bestiis marinis” by Georg Wilhelm Steller

Archives of Natural History ◽

10.3366/anh.2019.0554 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 63-74

Author(s):

Stefano Mattioli

Keyword(s):

Body Size ◽

Phenotypic Plasticity ◽

Geographical Distribution ◽

Functional Traits ◽

Marine Mammals ◽

Main Part ◽

Wide Distribution ◽

Restricted Range ◽

Direct Influence ◽

Modern Biology

The rediscovery of the original, unedited Latin manuscript of Georg Wilhelm Steller's “De bestiis marinis” (“On marine mammals”), first published in 1751, calls for a new translation into English. The main part of the treatise contains detailed descriptions of four marine mammals, but the introduction is devoted to more general issues, including innovative speculation on morphology, ecology and biogeography, anticipating arguments and concepts of modern biology. Steller noted early that climate and food have a direct influence on body size, pelage and functional traits of mammals, potentially affecting reversible changes (phenotypic plasticity). Feeding and other behavioural habits have an impact on the geographical distribution of mammals. Species with a broad diet tend to have a wide distribution, whereas animals with a narrow diet more likely have only a restricted range. According to Steller, both sea and land then still concealed countless animals unknown to science.

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