Spatial Heterogeneity Effects on Meta-Community Stability of Annual Plants from a Coastal Dune Ecosystem.

Spatial heterogeneity affects plant community composition and diversity. It is particularly noticeable in annual plant communities, which vary in space and time over short distances and periods, forming meta-communities at the regional scale. This study was conducted at the coastal dune ecosystem in Nizzanim nature reserve, Israel.

Propagule size and seed development duration: high photosynthate allocation and growth allometry.

The divergences in propagule mass have been more consistently associated with divergences in seed development duration or fruit pedicel cross-sectional area than with divergences in any other biotic factors. Allometry and Corner's rule became an important theme in evolutionary biology of plant trait structure and function. Being one of the most widely noticed plant traits, propagule (seed and fruit) mass variation mechanism across species is still controversial.

Silicon in the Soil-Plant Continuum: Intricate Feedback Mechanisms within Ecosystems.

Plants' ability to take up silicon from the soil, accumulate it within their tissues and then reincorporate it into the soil through litter creates an intricate network of feedback mechanisms in ecosystems. Here, we provide a concise review of silicon's roles in soil chemistry and physics and in plant physiology and ecology, focusing on the processes that form these feedback mechanisms. Through this review and analysis, we demonstrate how this feedback network drives ecosystem processes and affects ecosystem functioning.

Silicon and Plant-Animal Interactions: Towards an Evolutionary Framework.

Herbivory is fundamental in ecology, being a major driver of ecosystem structure and functioning. Plant Si and phytoliths play a significant antiherbivory role, the understanding of which and of its evolutionary context will increase our understanding of this phenomenon, its origins, and its significance for past, extant, and future ecosystems. To achieve this goal, we need a superdisciplinary evolutionary framework connecting the role of Si in plant-herbivore interactions, in global processes, and in plant and herbivore evolution.

Extending the scope of Darwin's 'abominable mystery': integrative approaches to understanding angiosperm origins and species richness.

Background And Aims: Angiosperms are the most species-rich group of land plants, but their origins and fast and intense diversification still require an explanation.

Scope: Extending research scopes can broaden theoretical frameworks and lines of evidence that can lead to solving this 'abominable mystery'. Solutions lie in understanding evolutionary trends across taxa and throughout the Phanerozoic, and integration between hypotheses and ideas that are derived from multiple disciplines.

Shift of fleshy fruited species along elevation: temperature, canopy coverage, phylogeny and origin.

Plant communities differ in their fruit type spectra, especially in the proportions of fleshy and non-fleshy fruit types. However, which abiotic and biotic factors drive this variability along elevation gradient and what drives the evolution of fruit type diversity still are puzzling. We analyzed the variations in proportions and richness of fleshy-fruited species and their correlations to various abiotic and biotic variables along elevation gradients in three mountains in the Beijing region, northeast China.