Dispersal failure contributes to plant losses in NW Europe.

The ongoing decline of many plant species in Northwest Europe indicates that traditional conservation measures to improve the habitat quality, although useful, are not enough to halt diversity losses. Using recent databases, we show for the first time that differences between species in adaptations to various dispersal vectors, in combination with changes in the availability of these vectors, contribute significantly to explaining losses in plant diversity in Northwest Europe in the 20th century. Species with water- or fur-assisted dispersal are over-represented among declining species, while others (wind- or bird-assisted dispersal) are under-represented.

Less lineages - more trait variation: phylogenetically clustered plant communities are functionally more diverse.

Functional diversity within communities may influence ecosystem functioning, but which factors drive functional diversity? We hypothesize that communities assembled from many phylogenetic lineages show large functional diversity if assembly is random, but low functional diversity if assembly is controlled by interactions between species within lineages. We combined > 9000 descriptions of Dutch plant communities, a species-level phylogeny, and information on 16 functional traits (including eight dispersal traits). We found that all traits were conserved within lineages, but nevertheless communities assembled from many lineages showed a smaller variation in trait-states of most traits (including dispersal traits) than communities assembled from few lineages.

A modular concept of phenotypic plasticity in plants.

Based on empirical evidence from the literature we propose that, in nature, phenotypic plasticity in plants is usually expressed at a subindividual level. While reaction norms (i.e.

Evaluation of the extent of among-family variation in inbreeding depression in the perennial herb Scabiosa columbaria (Dipsacaceae).

Significantly different maternal line responses to inbreeding provide a mechanism for the invasion of a selfing variant into a population. The goal of this study was to examine the extent of family-level variation in inbreeding depression in the mixed-mating, perennial herb Scabiosa columbaria. Plants from one population were raised, and hand-pollinated to produce selfed and outcrossed progeny, and the effects of inbreeding depression on life-cycle traits were analyzed.

Genetically based polymorphisms in morphology and life history associated with putative host races of the water lily leaf beetle, Galerucella nymphaeae.

A host race is a population that is partially reproductively isolated from other conspecific populations as a direct consequence of adaptation to a specific host. The initial step in host race formation is the establishment of genetically based polymorphisms in, for example, morphology, preference, or performance. In this study we investigated whether polymorphisms observed in Galerucella nymphaeae have a genetic component.