Investigating Physiological Trade-offs in North Cascades Plant Species

Investigating Physiological Trade-offs in North Cascades Plant Species PDF Author: Kimberly Ertel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 47

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Book Description
Determining where species are distributed and what constrains those distributions are fundamental questions in ecology, and increasingly relevant to understanding ecological responses to climate change. Despite decades of study, however, we still lack a general understanding of the relative importance of climatic and non-climatic factors in driving species distributions. Functional traits may provide a solution, offering a way to generalize the constraints on species distributions and their responses to climate change. For example, ecologists often assume that a plant species' ability to tolerate harsh conditions, like frost, comes at the cost of competing for resources, potentially explaining where species can live across climatic gradients. To explore this topic, I conducted a greenhouse experiment using 25 plant species local to the Cascades of Washington State to test for a trade-off between two functional traits, frost tolerance and competitive ability. I also tested whether species differences in frost tolerance and relative growth rate translated to their current distributions, hypothesizing that high elevation species would be frost-tolerant but slow-growing, while low-elevation species would be sensitive to frost but fast-growing. While I found the hypothesized trade-off between frost tolerance and competitive ability across our focal species, I did not find that these traits varied by species distributions (high elevation vs. low elevation) as I had expected. Alternatively, differences in life form and family of origin explained differences among species in these two traits, suggesting that life history, long-term evolutionary processes, or both may play an unappreciated role in driving differences in these traits. In total, my results suggest that although these functional traits are related and may help explain how focal plant species respond to the direct and indirect consequences of climate change, the hypothesized stress tolerance and competitive ability trade-off may not provide us the ability to generalize those responses. Future studies could explore different metrics of cold stress tolerance and competitive ability, the physiological basis of resource allocation, consider whether trait variation is driven by relatedness, and validate these results in field studies.

Investigating Physiological Trade-offs in North Cascades Plant Species

Investigating Physiological Trade-offs in North Cascades Plant Species PDF Author: Kimberly Ertel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 47

Get Book Here

Book Description
Determining where species are distributed and what constrains those distributions are fundamental questions in ecology, and increasingly relevant to understanding ecological responses to climate change. Despite decades of study, however, we still lack a general understanding of the relative importance of climatic and non-climatic factors in driving species distributions. Functional traits may provide a solution, offering a way to generalize the constraints on species distributions and their responses to climate change. For example, ecologists often assume that a plant species' ability to tolerate harsh conditions, like frost, comes at the cost of competing for resources, potentially explaining where species can live across climatic gradients. To explore this topic, I conducted a greenhouse experiment using 25 plant species local to the Cascades of Washington State to test for a trade-off between two functional traits, frost tolerance and competitive ability. I also tested whether species differences in frost tolerance and relative growth rate translated to their current distributions, hypothesizing that high elevation species would be frost-tolerant but slow-growing, while low-elevation species would be sensitive to frost but fast-growing. While I found the hypothesized trade-off between frost tolerance and competitive ability across our focal species, I did not find that these traits varied by species distributions (high elevation vs. low elevation) as I had expected. Alternatively, differences in life form and family of origin explained differences among species in these two traits, suggesting that life history, long-term evolutionary processes, or both may play an unappreciated role in driving differences in these traits. In total, my results suggest that although these functional traits are related and may help explain how focal plant species respond to the direct and indirect consequences of climate change, the hypothesized stress tolerance and competitive ability trade-off may not provide us the ability to generalize those responses. Future studies could explore different metrics of cold stress tolerance and competitive ability, the physiological basis of resource allocation, consider whether trait variation is driven by relatedness, and validate these results in field studies.

Sex, Size and Gender Roles

Sex, Size and Gender Roles PDF Author: Daphne J. Fairbairn
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191526088
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Why do males and females frequently differ so markedly in body size and morphology?lSex, Size, and Gender Roles is the first book to investigate the genetic, developmental, and physiological basis of sexual size dimorphism found within and among the major taxonomic groups of animals. Carefully edited by a team of world-renowned specialists in the field to ensure a coherence of style and approach between chapters, it presents a compendium of studies into the evolution, adaptive significance, and developmental basis of gender differences in body size and morphology. Adaptive hypotheses allude to gender-specific reproductive roles and associated differences in trophic ecologies, life history strategies, and sexual selection. This "adaptationist" approach is balanced by more mechanistic studies of the genetic, developmental and physiological basis of sexual size dimorphism to provide a comprehensive and authoritative overview of the subject. Throughout the volume the emphasis is on sexual dimorphism in overall size; however, the scope of enquiry encompasses gender differences in body shape, the size and structure of secondary sexual characteristics, patterns of growth (ontogeny), and patterns of gene regulation. This advanced, research level text is suitable for graduate level students and researchers in the fields of evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, physiology, developmental biology, and genetics. It will also be of relevance and use to non-biologists from fields such as anthropology and gender studies.

Bibliography of Agriculture

Bibliography of Agriculture PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 1922

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Book Description


Dissertation Abstracts International

Dissertation Abstracts International PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dissertations, Academic
Languages : en
Pages : 658

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Book Description


Plant Aquaporins

Plant Aquaporins PDF Author: François Chaumont
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319493957
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
Aquaporins are channel proteins that facilitate the diffusion of water and small uncharged solutes across cellular membranes. Plant aquaporins form a large family of highly divergent proteins that are involved in many different physiological processes. This book will summarize the recent advances regarding plant aquaporins, their phylogeny, structure, substrate specificity, mechanisms of regulation and roles in various important physiological processes related to the control of water flow and small solute distribution at the cell, tissue and plant level in an ever-changing environment.

Applied Population Biology

Applied Population Biology PDF Author: S.K. Jain
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0585329117
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
An increasing variety of biological problems involving resource management, conservation and environmental quality have been dealt with using the principles of population biology (defined to include population dynamics, genetics and certain aspects of community ecology). There appears to be a mixed record of successes and failures and almost no critical synthesis or reviews that have attempted to discuss the reasons and ways in which population biology, with its remarkable theoretical as well as experimental advances, could find more useful application in agriculture, forestry, fishery, medicine and resource and environmental management. This book provides examples of state-of-the-art applications by a distinguished group of researchers in several fields. The diversity of topics richly illustrates the scientific and economic breadth of their discussions as well as epistemological and comparative analyses by the authors and editors. Several principles and common themes are emphasized and both strengths and potential sources of uncertainty in applications are discussed. This volume will hopefully stimulate new interdisciplinary avenues of problem-solving research.

Allelopathy

Allelopathy PDF Author: Manuel J. Reigosa
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402042809
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 635

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Book Description
There are many good books in the market dealing with the subject of allelopathy. When we designed the outline of this new book, we thought that it should include as many different points of view as possible, although in an integrated general scheme. Allelopathy can be viewed from different of perspectives, ranging from the molecular to the ecosystem level, and including molecular biology, plant biochemistry, plant physiology, plant ecophysiology and ecology, with information coming also from the organic chemistry, soil sciences, microbiology and many other scientific disciplines. This book was designed to include a complete perspective of allelopathic process. The book is divided into seven major sections. The first chapter explores the international development of allelopathy as a science and next section deals with methodological aspects and it explores potential limitations of actual research. Third section is devoted to physiological aspects of allelopathy. Different specialists wrote about photosynthesis, cell cycle, detoxification processes, abiotic and biotic stress, plant secondary metabolites and respiration related to allelopathy. Chapters 13 through 16 are collectively devoted to various aspects of plant ecophysiology on a variety of levels: microorganisms, soil system and weed germination. Fundamental ecology approaches using both experimental observations and theoretical analysis of allelopathy are described in chapters 16 and 17. Those chapters deal with the possible evolutionary forces that have shaped particular strategies. In the section named “allelopathy in different environments”, authors primarily center on marine, aquatic, forest and agro ecosystems. Last section includes chapters addressing application of the knowledge of allelopathy.

Physiological Diversity

Physiological Diversity PDF Author: John Spicer
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444311425
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Ecologists have always believed, at least to a certain extent, that physiological mechanisms serve to underpin ecological patterns. However, their importance has traditionally been at best underestimated and at worst ignored, with physiological variation being dismissed as either an irrelevance or as random noise/error. Spicer and Gaston make a convincing argument that the precise physiology does matter! In contrast to previous works which have attempted to integrate ecology and physiology, Physiological Diversity adopts a completely different and more controversial approach in tackling the physiology first before moving on to consider the implications for ecology. This is timely given the recent and considerable interest in the mechanisms underlying ecological patterns. Indeed, many of these mechanisms are physiological. This textbook provides a contemporary summary of physiological diversity as it occurs at different hierarchical levels (individual, population, species etc.), and the implications of such diversity for ecology and, by implication, evolution. It reviews what is known of physiological diversity and in doing so exposes the reader to all the key works in the field. It also portrays many of these studies in a completely new light, thereby serving as an agenda for, and impetus to, the future study of physiological variation. Physiological Diversity will be of relevance to senior undergraduates, postgraduates and professional researchers in the fields of ecology, ecological physiology, ecotoxicology, environmental biology and conservation. The book spans both terrestrial and marine systems.

Ecological Society of America ... Annual Meeting Abstracts

Ecological Society of America ... Annual Meeting Abstracts PDF Author: Ecological Society of America. Meeting
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 612

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Book Description


Invasive Species in Forests and Rangelands of the United States

Invasive Species in Forests and Rangelands of the United States PDF Author: Therese M. Poland
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030453677
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 455

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Book Description
This open access book describes the serious threat of invasive species to native ecosystems. Invasive species have caused and will continue to cause enormous ecological and economic damage with ever increasing world trade. This multi-disciplinary book, written by over 100 national experts, presents the latest research on a wide range of natural science and social science fields that explore the ecology, impacts, and practical tools for management of invasive species. It covers species of all taxonomic groups from insects and pathogens, to plants, vertebrates, and aquatic organisms that impact a diversity of habitats in forests, rangelands and grasslands of the United States. It is well-illustrated, provides summaries of the most important invasive species and issues impacting all regions of the country, and includes a comprehensive primary reference list for each topic. This scientific synthesis provides the cultural, economic, scientific and social context for addressing environmental challenges posed by invasive species and will be a valuable resource for scholars, policy makers, natural resource managers and practitioners.