Masting and Efficient Production of Seedlings: Balancing Costs of Variation Through Synchronised Fruiting.

The efficient conversion of tissues into reproductive success is a crucial aspect affecting the evolution of life histories. Masting, the interannually variable and synchronous seed production in perennial plants, is a strategy that can enhance reproductive efficiency by mitigating seed predation and pollen limitation. However, evaluating benefits is insufficient to establish whether efficiency has improved, as such assessments neglect the associated costs of masting, particularly during the critical seed-to-seedling stage.

Relatives reproduce in synchrony: kinship and individual condition shape intraspecific variation in masting phenotype.

Masting (synchronous and interannually variable seed production) is frequently called a reproductive strategy; yet it is unclear whether the reproductive behaviour of individuals has a heritable component. To address this, we used 22 years of annual fruit production data from 110 L. trees to examine the contributions of genetic factors to the reproductive phenotype of individuals, while controlling for environmental variation.

Long-term moss monitoring of atmospheric deposition near a large steelworks reveals the growing importance of local non-industrial sources of pollution.

Although air quality in Europe is continually improving, there are regions, especially in central and eastern European countries, where this trend has been unnoticeable and even reversed in recent years. To understand the possible reasons for the persistence of these pollution "hotspots", we investigated the case of the Kraków region (S Poland) known for its heavy pollution caused by a large steelworks. In 1975, at the apogee of industrial emissions, atmospheric deposition of trace metals was evaluated in this area using moss Pleurozium schreberi as a biomonitor.

Albanian violets of the section Melanium, their morphological variability, genetic similarity and their adaptations to serpentine or chalk soils.

Violets of the section Melanium from Albanian serpentine and chalk soils were examined for their taxonomic affiliations, their ability to accumulate heavy metals and their colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). The sequence analysis of the ITS1-5.8S rDNA-ITS2 region showed that all the sampled six Albanian violets grouped between Viola lutea and Viola arvensis, but not with Viola tricolor.

Soil fertility and plant diversity enhance microbial performance in metal-polluted soils.

This study examined the effects of soil physicochemical properties (including heavy metal pollution) and vegetation parameters on soil basal respiration, microbial biomass, and the activity and functional richness of culturable soil bacteria and fungi. In a zinc and lead mining area (S Poland), 49 sites were selected to represent all common plant communities and comprise the area's diverse soil types. Numerous variables describing habitat properties were reduced by PCA to 7 independent factors, mainly representing subsoil type (metal-rich mining waste vs.

Direct and indirect effects of metal contamination on soil biota in a Zn-Pb post-mining and smelting area (S Poland).

Effects of metal contamination on soil biota activity were investigated at 43 sites in 5 different habitats (defined by substratum and vegetation type) in a post-mining area. Sites were characterised in terms of soil pH and texture, nutrient status, total and exchangeable metal concentrations, as well as plant species richness and cover, abundances of enchytraeids, nematodes and tardigrades, and microbial respiration and biomass. The concentrations of total trace metals were highest in soils developed on mining waste (metal-rich dolomite), but these habitats were more attractive than sandy sites for plants and soil biota because of their higher content of organic matter, clay and nutrients.

Pine forest and grassland differently influence the response of soil microbial communities to metal contamination.

Metal pollution can affect soil microbial communities, and vegetation potentially influences this relationship. It can, for example, modify the toxicity of metal to soil microbes by controlling its input to the ground or by altering soil physicochemical properties. This study examined metal effects on soil respiration, potentially active microbial biomass (SIR) and catabolic abilities of culturable heterotrophic bacterial communities (Biolog GN) in pine forest and grassland ecosystems developed on soils contaminated with Zn, Pb and Cd.

Spatio-temporal variation of element accumulation by Moehringia trinervia in a polluted forest ecosystem (South Poland).

The aim of this study was to identify factors affecting accumulation of elements by Moehringia trinervia (L.) Clairv. in a forest ecosystem impacted by long-term inflow of air pollution.