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Plants
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Plant Evolutionary Ecology
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Plant Evolutionary Ecology

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Ecology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2022) | Viewed by 10051

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Germán Avila Sakar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biology, University of Winnipeg, 599 Portage Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3B 2G3, Canada
Interests: plant–animal interactions; herbivory; tolerance; resistance; resource allocation; sexual systems of plants; dioecy; monoecy; pollination; evolution of plant responses to herbivores; evolution of plant mating systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Evolutionary ecology is a field of knowledge focussed on the interphase between ecology and evolution. Evolutionary ecologists ponder the evolutionary causes and consequences of ecological interactions. Plant evolutionary ecologists study plants as centres of a plethora of interactions, many of which can generate processes of natural selection. Plants engage with other plants, insects, molluscs, vertebrates, bacteria, fungi, and viruses in competitive, mutualistic, parasitic, and predatory interactions. Notably, the outcomes of these interactions may depend on the plant ontogenetic stage during which the interactions occur. Moreover, biotic interactions can be mitigated or enhanced by particular abiotic conditions. The scope of the field spans from macro-evolutionary patterns and biogeography to micro-evolution and the evolution of mechanisms at the genetic, biochemical, and cellular and tissue levels that allow plants to respond to predators (herbivores, pathogens), competitors, and mutualists.

 

In recognizing the proliferation of evolutionary ecology studies of plants, the emergence of new approaches and the rapid pace of the field, Plants hereby launches a Special Issue on Plant Evolutionary Ecology. We welcome original articles, topical reviews, and perspectives on where the field is going and knowledge and technical gaps that need to be addressed. We are particularly interested in studies that address the evolutionary context of plant interactions and allow the reader to better understand the evolutionary causes and/or consequences of such interactions.

Manuscripts should be sent to us any time before 15 December 2022.

Dr. Germán Avila Sakar
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Mutualism
  • Predation
  • Competition
  • Herbivory
  • Plant-insect
  • Plant-pathogen
  • Plant-fungus
  • Plant-animal
  • Plant-plant
  • Ontogenetic
  • Developmental
  • Evo-devo-eco

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1323 KiB  
Article
Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Jubaea chilensis, an Endemic and Monotype Gender from Chile, Based on SNP Markers
by Paola Jara-Arancio, Carolina da Silva Carvalho, Martín R. Carmona-Ortiz, Ramiro O. Bustamante, Priscilla M. Schmidt Villela, Sónia C. da Silva Andrade, Francisco T. Peña-Gómez, Luís A. González and Marina Fleury
Plants 2022, 11(15), 1959; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11151959 - 28 Jul 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3080
Abstract
Jubaea chilensis (Molina) Baill., also named Chilean palm, is an endemic species found in the coastal area of Mediterranean sclerophyllous forest in Chile. It has a highly restricted and fragmented distribution along the coast, being under intense exploitation and anthropogenic impact. Based on [...] Read more.
Jubaea chilensis (Molina) Baill., also named Chilean palm, is an endemic species found in the coastal area of Mediterranean sclerophyllous forest in Chile. It has a highly restricted and fragmented distribution along the coast, being under intense exploitation and anthropogenic impact. Based on 1038 SNP markers, we evaluated the genetic diversity and population structure among six J. chilensis natural groups encompassing 96% of the species distribution. We observed low levels of genetic diversity, a deficit of heterozygotes (mean HE = 0.024; HO = 0.014), and high levels of inbreeding (mean FIS = 0.424). The fixation index (FST) and Nei’s genetic distance pairwise comparisons indicated low to moderate structuring among populations. There was no evidence of isolation by distance (r = −0.214, p = 0.799). In the cluster analysis, we observed a closer relationship among Culimo, Cocalán, and Candelaria populations. Migration rates among populations were low, except for some populations with moderate values. The K value that best represented the spatial distribution of genetic diversity was ∆K = 3. Habitat fragmentation, deterioration of the sclerophyllous forest, lack of long-distance dispersers, and a natural regeneration deficit may have driven inbreeding and low levels of genetic diversity in the palm groves of J. chilensis. Although extant populations are not at imminent risk of extinction, the rate of inbreeding could increase and migration could decrease if the effects of climate change and human impact become more acute. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Evolutionary Ecology)
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29 pages, 3733 KiB  
Article
Leaf Economic and Hydraulic Traits Signal Disparate Climate Adaptation Patterns in Two Co-Occurring Woodland Eucalypts
by Suzanne M. Prober, Brad M. Potts, Peter A. Harrison, Georg Wiehl, Tanya G. Bailey, João Costa e Silva, Meridy R. Price, Jane Speijers, Dorothy A. Steane and René E. Vaillancourt
Plants 2022, 11(14), 1846; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11141846 - 14 Jul 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3403
Abstract
With climate change impacting trees worldwide, enhancing adaptation capacity has become an important goal of provenance translocation strategies for forestry, ecological renovation, and biodiversity conservation. Given that not every species can be studied in detail, it is important to understand the extent to [...] Read more.
With climate change impacting trees worldwide, enhancing adaptation capacity has become an important goal of provenance translocation strategies for forestry, ecological renovation, and biodiversity conservation. Given that not every species can be studied in detail, it is important to understand the extent to which climate adaptation patterns can be generalised across species, in terms of the selective agents and traits involved. We here compare patterns of genetic-based population (co)variation in leaf economic and hydraulic traits, climate–trait associations, and genomic differentiation of two widespread tree species (Eucalyptus pauciflora and E. ovata). We studied 2-year-old trees growing in a common-garden trial established with progeny from populations of both species, pair-sampled from 22 localities across their overlapping native distribution in Tasmania, Australia. Despite originating from the same climatic gradients, the species differed in their levels of population variance and trait covariance, patterns of population variation within each species were uncorrelated, and the species had different climate–trait associations. Further, the pattern of genomic differentiation among populations was uncorrelated between species, and population differentiation in leaf traits was mostly uncorrelated with genomic differentiation. We discuss hypotheses to explain this decoupling of patterns and propose that the choice of seed provenances for climate-based plantings needs to account for multiple dimensions of climate change unless species-specific information is available. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Evolutionary Ecology)
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10 pages, 1318 KiB  
Communication
Functional Differentiation of Floral Color and Scent in Gall Midge Pollination: A Study of a Schisandraceae Plant
by Shi-Rui Gan, Wei Du and Xiao-Fan Wang
Plants 2022, 11(7), 974; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11070974 - 2 Apr 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2529
Abstract
Gall midges are among the most host-specific insects. Their interactions with plants likely date back to the Cretaceous period. Plants from at least seven families are involved in gall midge pollination; however, little is known about the pollination signals of gall midges. In [...] Read more.
Gall midges are among the most host-specific insects. Their interactions with plants likely date back to the Cretaceous period. Plants from at least seven families are involved in gall midge pollination; however, little is known about the pollination signals of gall midges. In this study, we used a Resseliella–Schisandra model to investigate the roles of floral scent and color in attracting gall midges. Field observations, behavioral bioassays via Y-tubes, and “flight box” experiments were performed. The results demonstrated that gall midges may be attracted by both floral scent and color and that two flower signals are more effective in promoting insect flower-landing than either alone. In the field, gall midges visited male flowers effectively at night but almost always visited female flowers during the day. Thus, during the Resseliella–Schisandra interactions, female flowers predominantly employed visual cues over scent to attract midges during the day; in contrast, olfactory cues were more functional for male flowers to export pollen in the dark. In this study, we first identified the roles of floral color and the functional differentiation of visual and olfactory cues during gall midge pollination. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Evolutionary Ecology)
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