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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Global Patterns Of Potential Future Plant Diversity Hidden In Soil Seed Banks, Xuejun Yang, Carol C. Baskin, Jerry M. Baskin, Robin J. Pakeman, Zhenying Huang, Ruiru Gao, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen Dec 2021

Global Patterns Of Potential Future Plant Diversity Hidden In Soil Seed Banks, Xuejun Yang, Carol C. Baskin, Jerry M. Baskin, Robin J. Pakeman, Zhenying Huang, Ruiru Gao, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen

Biology Faculty Publications

Soil seed banks represent a critical but hidden stock for potential future plant diversity on Earth. Here we compiled and analyzed a global dataset consisting of 15,698 records of species diversity and density for soil seed banks in natural plant communities worldwide to quantify their environmental determinants and global patterns. Random forest models showed that absolute latitude was an important predictor for diversity of soil seed banks. Further, climate and soil were the major determinants of seed bank diversity, while net primary productivity and soil characteristics were the main predictors of seed bank density. Moreover, global mapping revealed clear spatial …


Opposing Community Assembly Patterns For Dominant And Nondominant Plant Species In Herbaceous Ecosystems Globally, Carlos Alberto Arnillas, Elizabeth T. Borer, Eric W. Seabloom, Juan Alberti, Selene Baez, Jonathan D. Bakker, Elizabeth H. Boughton, Yvonne M. Buckley, Miguel Nuno Bugalho, Ian Donohue, John Dwyer, Jennifer Firn, Riley Gridzak, Nicole Hagenah, Yann Hautier, Aveliina Helm, Anke Jentsch, Johannes M. H. Knops, Kimberly J. Komatsu, Lauri Laanisto, Rebecca L. Mcculley Nov 2021

Opposing Community Assembly Patterns For Dominant And Nondominant Plant Species In Herbaceous Ecosystems Globally, Carlos Alberto Arnillas, Elizabeth T. Borer, Eric W. Seabloom, Juan Alberti, Selene Baez, Jonathan D. Bakker, Elizabeth H. Boughton, Yvonne M. Buckley, Miguel Nuno Bugalho, Ian Donohue, John Dwyer, Jennifer Firn, Riley Gridzak, Nicole Hagenah, Yann Hautier, Aveliina Helm, Anke Jentsch, Johannes M. H. Knops, Kimberly J. Komatsu, Lauri Laanisto, Rebecca L. Mcculley

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Biotic and abiotic factors interact with dominant plants—the locally most frequent or with the largest coverage—and nondominant plants differently, partially because dominant plants modify the environment where nondominant plants grow. For instance, if dominant plants compete strongly, they will deplete most resources, forcing nondominant plants into a narrower niche space. Conversely, if dominant plants are constrained by the environment, they might not exhaust available resources but instead may ameliorate environmental stressors that usually limit nondominants. Hence, the nature of interactions among nondominant species could be modified by dominant species. Furthermore, these differences could translate into a disparity in the phylogenetic …


A Common Genetic Mechanism Underlies Morphological Diversity In Fruits And Other Plant Organs, Shan Wu, Biyao Zhang, Neda Keyhaninejad, Gustavo R. Rodríguez, Hyun Jung Kim, Manohar Chakrabarti, Eudald Illa-Berenguer, Nathan K. Taitano, M. J. Gonzalo, Aurora Díaz, Yupeng Pan, Courtney P. Leisner, Dennis Halterman, C. Robin Buell, Yiqun Weng, Shelley H. Jansky, Herman Van Eck, Johan Willemsen, Antonio J Monforte, Tea Meulia, Esther Van Der Knaap Nov 2018

A Common Genetic Mechanism Underlies Morphological Diversity In Fruits And Other Plant Organs, Shan Wu, Biyao Zhang, Neda Keyhaninejad, Gustavo R. Rodríguez, Hyun Jung Kim, Manohar Chakrabarti, Eudald Illa-Berenguer, Nathan K. Taitano, M. J. Gonzalo, Aurora Díaz, Yupeng Pan, Courtney P. Leisner, Dennis Halterman, C. Robin Buell, Yiqun Weng, Shelley H. Jansky, Herman Van Eck, Johan Willemsen, Antonio J Monforte, Tea Meulia, Esther Van Der Knaap

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Shapes of edible plant organs vary dramatically among and within crop plants. To explain and ultimately employ this variation towards crop improvement, we determined the genetic, molecular and cellular bases of fruit shape diversity in tomato. Through positional cloning, protein interaction studies, and genome editing, we report that OVATE Family Proteins and TONNEAU1 Recruiting Motif proteins regulate cell division patterns in ovary development to alter final fruit shape. The physical interactions between the members of these two families are necessary for dynamic relocalization of the protein complexes to different cellular compartments when expressed in tobacco leaf cells. Together with data …


Crop Pests And Predators Exhibit Inconsistent Responses To Surrounding Landscape Composition, Daniel S. Karp, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Timothy D. Meehan, Emily A. Martin, Fabrice Declerck, Heather Grab, Claudio Gratton, Lauren Hunt, Ashley E. Larsen, Alejandra Martínez-Salinas, Megan E. O’Rourke, Adrien Rusch, Katja Poveda, Mattias Jonsson, Jay A. Rosenheim, Nancy A. Schellhorn, Teja Tscharntke, Stephen D. Wratten, Wei Zhang, Aaron L. Iverson, Lynn S. Adler, Matthias Albrecht, Audrey Alignier, Gina M. Angelella, Muhammad Zubair Anjum, Jacques Avelino, Péter Batáry, Johannes M. Baveco, Felix J. J. A. Bianchi, Klaus Birkhofer, David J. Gonthier Aug 2018

Crop Pests And Predators Exhibit Inconsistent Responses To Surrounding Landscape Composition, Daniel S. Karp, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Timothy D. Meehan, Emily A. Martin, Fabrice Declerck, Heather Grab, Claudio Gratton, Lauren Hunt, Ashley E. Larsen, Alejandra Martínez-Salinas, Megan E. O’Rourke, Adrien Rusch, Katja Poveda, Mattias Jonsson, Jay A. Rosenheim, Nancy A. Schellhorn, Teja Tscharntke, Stephen D. Wratten, Wei Zhang, Aaron L. Iverson, Lynn S. Adler, Matthias Albrecht, Audrey Alignier, Gina M. Angelella, Muhammad Zubair Anjum, Jacques Avelino, Péter Batáry, Johannes M. Baveco, Felix J. J. A. Bianchi, Klaus Birkhofer, David J. Gonthier

Entomology Faculty Publications

The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop …


Local Loss And Spatial Homogenization Of Plant Diversity Reduce Ecosystem Multifunctionality, Yann Hautier, Forest Isbell, Elizabeth T. Borer, Eric W. Seabloom, W. Stanley Harpole, Eric M. Lind, Andrew S. Macdougall, Carly J. Stevens, Peter B. Adler, Juan Alberti, Jonathan D. Bakker, Lars A. Brudvig, Yvonne M. Buckley, Marc Cadotte, Maria C. Caldeira, Enrique J. Chaneton, Chengjin Chu, Pedro Daleo, Christopher R. Dickman, John M. Dwyer, Anu Eskelinen, Philip A Fay, Jennifer Firn, Nicole Hagenah, Helmut Hillebrand, Oscar Iribarne, Kevin P. Kirkman, Johannes M. H. Knops, Kimberly J. La Pierre, Rebecca L. Mcculley Jan 2018

Local Loss And Spatial Homogenization Of Plant Diversity Reduce Ecosystem Multifunctionality, Yann Hautier, Forest Isbell, Elizabeth T. Borer, Eric W. Seabloom, W. Stanley Harpole, Eric M. Lind, Andrew S. Macdougall, Carly J. Stevens, Peter B. Adler, Juan Alberti, Jonathan D. Bakker, Lars A. Brudvig, Yvonne M. Buckley, Marc Cadotte, Maria C. Caldeira, Enrique J. Chaneton, Chengjin Chu, Pedro Daleo, Christopher R. Dickman, John M. Dwyer, Anu Eskelinen, Philip A Fay, Jennifer Firn, Nicole Hagenah, Helmut Hillebrand, Oscar Iribarne, Kevin P. Kirkman, Johannes M. H. Knops, Kimberly J. La Pierre, Rebecca L. Mcculley

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Biodiversity is declining in many local communities while also becoming increasingly homogenized across space. Experiments show that local plant species loss reduces ecosystem functioning and services, but the role of spatial homogenization of community composition and the potential interaction between diversity at different scales in maintaining ecosystem functioning remains unclear, especially when many functions are considered (ecosystem multifunctionality). We present an analysis of eight ecosystem functions measured in 65 grasslands worldwide. We find that more diverse grasslands—those with both species-rich local communities (α-diversity) and large compositional differences among localities (β-diversity)—had higher levels of multifunctionality. Moreover, α- and β-diversity synergistically affected …


Phytoplasma Infection Of A Tropical Root Crop Triggers Bottom-Up Cascades By Favoring Generalist Over Specialist Herbivores, Kris A. G. Wyckhuys, Ignazio Graziosi, Dharani Dhar Burra, Abigail Jan Walter Aug 2017

Phytoplasma Infection Of A Tropical Root Crop Triggers Bottom-Up Cascades By Favoring Generalist Over Specialist Herbivores, Kris A. G. Wyckhuys, Ignazio Graziosi, Dharani Dhar Burra, Abigail Jan Walter

Entomology Faculty Publications

Global interest on plant-microbe-insect interactions is rapidly growing, revealing the multiple ways in which microorganisms mediate plant-herbivore interactions. Phytopathogens regularly alter whole repertoires of plant phenotypic traits, and bring about shifts in key chemical or morphological characteristics of plant hosts. Pathogens can also cause cascading effects on higher trophic levels, and eventually shape entire plant-associated arthropod communities. We tested the hypothesis that a Candidatus Phytoplasma causing cassava witches’ broom (CWB) on cassava (Manihot esculenta Grantz) is altering species composition of invasive herbivores and their associated parasitic hymenopterans. We conducted observational studies in cassava fields in eastern Cambodia to assess …


Discovery Of Novel Dsrna Viral Sequences By In Silico Cloning And Implications For Viral Diversity, Host Range And Evolution, Huiquan Liu, Yanping Fu, Jiatao Xie, Jiasen Cheng, Said A. Ghabrial, Guoqing Li, Xianhong Yi, Daohong Jiang Jul 2012

Discovery Of Novel Dsrna Viral Sequences By In Silico Cloning And Implications For Viral Diversity, Host Range And Evolution, Huiquan Liu, Yanping Fu, Jiatao Xie, Jiasen Cheng, Said A. Ghabrial, Guoqing Li, Xianhong Yi, Daohong Jiang

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

Genome sequence of viruses can contribute greatly to the study of viral evolution, diversity and the interaction between viruses and hosts. Traditional molecular cloning methods for obtaining RNA viral genomes are time-consuming and often difficult because many viruses occur in extremely low titers. DsRNA viruses in the families, Partitiviridae, Totiviridae, Endornaviridae, Chrysoviridae, and other related unclassified dsRNA viruses are generally associated with symptomless or persistent infections of their hosts. These characteristics indicate that samples or materials derived from eukaryotic organisms used to construct cDNA libraries and EST sequencing might carry these viruses, which were not easily detected by the researchers. …


Three New Species Of Sesioctonus Viereck (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Agathidinae) From Peru, Lidia Sulca, Michael J. Sharkey May 2012

Three New Species Of Sesioctonus Viereck (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Agathidinae) From Peru, Lidia Sulca, Michael J. Sharkey

Entomology Faculty Publications

Three new species of Sesioctonus (Braconidae: Agathidinae) are described and illustrated, i.e., Sesioctonus huggerti, Sesioctonus wayquecha, and Sesioctonus bina. Two new Peruvian species records for Sesioctonus are reported: Sesioctonus longinoi and Sesioctonus diazi. A revised key to all known species of Sesioctonus is presented.


Influence Of The Neotyphodium--Tall Fescue Symbiosis On Belowground Processes, D. H. Mcnear Jr., Rebecca L. Mcculley Jan 2012

Influence Of The Neotyphodium--Tall Fescue Symbiosis On Belowground Processes, D. H. Mcnear Jr., Rebecca L. Mcculley

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Much of the work to date on the relationships between cool season grasses and Neotyphodium fungal endophytes has focused on the physiological, biochemical, and genetic ramifications of the host-fungus relationship and the subsequent influence these effects have on ruminant nutrition, plant adaptation to environmental stresses, and aboveground ecological processes. Relatively little attention has been paid to effects on belowground parameters. In this paper, we review the research evaluating the impact of one endophyte-grass association, the Neotyphodium – tall fescue symbiosis, on underground ecological and biogeochemical processes. We also present some preliminary data showing that the quantity and nature of tall …


Species Delimitation In Lemurs: Multiple Genetic Loci Reveal Low Levels Of Species Diversity In The Genus Cheirogaleus, Linn F. Groeneveld, David W. Weisrock, Rodin M. Rasoloarison, Anne D. Yoder, Peter M. Kappeler Feb 2009

Species Delimitation In Lemurs: Multiple Genetic Loci Reveal Low Levels Of Species Diversity In The Genus Cheirogaleus, Linn F. Groeneveld, David W. Weisrock, Rodin M. Rasoloarison, Anne D. Yoder, Peter M. Kappeler

Biology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Species are viewed as the fundamental unit in most subdisciplines of biology. To conservationists this unit represents the currency for global biodiversity assessments. Even though Madagascar belongs to one of the top eight biodiversity hotspots of the world, the taxonomy of its charismatic lemuriform primates is not stable. Within the last 25 years, the number of described lemur species has more than doubled, with many newly described species identified among the nocturnal and small-bodied cheirogaleids. Here, we characterize the diversity of the dwarf lemurs (genus Cheirogaleus) and assess the status of the seven described species, based on phylogenetic and …