Population size affected by environmental variability impacts genetics, traits, and plant performance in L.

Population size, genetic diversity, and performance have fundamental importance for ecology, evolution, and nature conservation of plant species. Despite well-studied relationships among environmental, genetic, and intraspecific trait variation (ITV), the influence of population size on these aspects is less understood. To assess the sources of population size variation, but also its impact on genetic, functional trait, and performance aspects, we conducted detailed population size estimations, assessed 23 abiotic and biotic environmental habitat factors, performed population genetic analyses using nine microsatellite markers, and recorded nine functional traits based on 260 individuals from 13 semi-dry grassland locations of Central Europe.

Characterizing the Response of Vegetation Cover to Water Limitation in Africa Using Geostationary Satellites.

Hydrological interactions between vegetation, soil, and topography are complex, and heterogeneous in semi-arid landscapes. This along with data scarcity poses challenges for large-scale modeling of vegetation-water interactions. Here, we exploit metrics derived from daily Meteosat data over Africa at ca.

Gross Primary Productivity of Four European Ecosystems Constrained by Joint CO and COS Flux Measurements.

Gross primary productivity (GPP), the gross uptake of carbon dioxide (CO) by plant photosynthesis, is the primary driver of the land carbon sink, which presently removes around one quarter of the anthropogenic CO emissions each year. GPP, however, cannot be measured directly and the resulting uncertainty undermines our ability to project the magnitude of the future land carbon sink. Carbonyl sulfide (COS) has been proposed as an independent proxy for GPP as it diffuses into leaves in a fashion very similar to CO, but in contrast to the latter is generally not emitted.