In colonizing species, high phenotypic plasticity can contribute to survival and propagation in heterogenous adventive environments, and it has been suggested as a predictor of invasiveness. Observation of natural populations of an invasive species, Lythrum salicaria salicaria, indicated extensive variation in its growth and reproductive traits. Phenotypic plasticity of different life history traits of L. salicaria was investigated using vegetative clones of each of 12 genotypes from one population in Ontario, Canada. We chose soil moisture as the treatment factor because of its importance in wetland species and raised all 12 genotypes in each of four soil moisture treatments. We examined an array of vegetative and reproductive traits, including root and shoot mass, shoot and inflorescence length, total seed set, floral mass, and morphometric variables. All observed vegetative as well as reproductive traits demonstrated significant phenotypic plasticity in response to soil moisture treatment. Even the stigma-anther separation involved significant genotype by environment interactions, suggesting that soil moisture may modify the relative positions of anthers and stigma. Compared to vegetative traits, most reproductive traits demonstrated crossing reaction norms, implying that the average differences in those traits among genotypes vary with the environment maintaining the genetic variation in a population.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3732/ajb.92.5.819 | DOI Listing |
AoB Plants
January 2025
Department of Biology, 10 Bailey Drive, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3, Canada.
Drought-induced changes in floral traits can disrupt plant-pollinator interactions, influencing pollination and reproductive success. These phenotypic changes likely also affect natural selection on floral traits, yet phenotypic selection studies manipulating drought remain rare. We studied how drought impacts selection to understand the potential evolutionary consequences of drought on floral traits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis
January 2025
Shandong First Medical University, Jinan 250117, Shandong, China; Department of Neurosurgery, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng 252000, Shangdong, China. Electronic address:
Background: Previous observational studies have suggested a potential association between heart rate variability (HRV) and cerebrovascular disease. However, a causal relationship between the two has not yet been established.
Aims: The objective of this study was to determine the causal relationship between heart rate variability (HRV) and stroke through a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis.
J Reprod Immunol
January 2025
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China; Tianjin Key Laboratory of Female Reproductive Health and Eugenics, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China. Electronic address:
Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is a complex hypertensive disorder that occurs during pregnancy, with the immune system playing a key role. Although immune modulation is implicated in PE progression, the roles of specific immune cells and inflammatory mediators remain unclear.
Methods: We conducted a two-sample, two-step Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis, primarily using the inverse-variance weighted method, to investigate the causal effect of immune cell traits on PE.
Plants (Basel)
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Breeding, China National Center for Rice Improvement, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou 311400, China.
Rice ( L.) is a staple crop for nearly half of the global population and one of China's most extensively cultivated cereals. Heading date, a critical agronomic trait, determines the regional and seasonal adaptability of rice varieties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlants (Basel)
January 2025
Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Bldg. 5, 90128 Palermo, Italy.
In this study, a focus on the populations of bryophytes living in aquatic and humid habitats of Sicily is presented. This investigation aims to evaluate the consistency and diversity of this group of taxa. The complete list of taxa known to date in these habitats is provided, with reference to hornworts, liverworts, and mosses, and the patterns related to the biological, ecological, and chorological features of this bryophyte flora are also illustrated.
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