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Lessons On Evolution From The Study Of Edaphic Specialization, Nishanta Rajakaruna
Lessons On Evolution From The Study Of Edaphic Specialization, Nishanta Rajakaruna
Biological Sciences
Plants adapted to special soil types are ideal for investigating evolutionary processes, including maintenance of intraspecific variation, adaptation, reproductive isolation, ecotypic differentiation, and the tempo and mode of speciation. Common garden and reciprocal transplant approaches show that both local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity contribute to edaphic (soil-related) specialization. Edaphic specialists evolve rapidly and repeatedly in some lineages, offering opportunities to investigate parallel evolution, a process less commonly documented in plants than in animals. Adaptations to soil features are often under the control of major genes and they frequently have direct or indirect effects on genes that contribute to reproductive isolation. …
Limestone Flora Of The Simonton Corner Quarry Preserve, Rockport, Maine, Usa, Margaret Stern, Ian D. Medeiros, Luka Negoita, N. Rajakaruna
Limestone Flora Of The Simonton Corner Quarry Preserve, Rockport, Maine, Usa, Margaret Stern, Ian D. Medeiros, Luka Negoita, N. Rajakaruna
Biological Sciences
Limestone is a distinctive substrate that has significant effects on soils and plants. The present study characterizes the diversity of vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens at the Simonton Corner Quarry Preserve, an abandoned limestone quarry in Rockport, Maine, USA, which was in operation in the late 1800s. We document vascular plant diversity and associated edaphic features (i.e., soil pH and elemental chemistry) using 30 535 meter plots spread throughout the site. For vascular plants, 114 species in 96 genera and 50 families were observed; few of these species are known to prefer calcareous environments, and 38% are nonnative. Conversely, the …
Growth And Nickel Uptake By Serpentine And Non-Serpentine Populations Of Fimbristylis Ovata (Cyperaceae) From Sri Lanka, P. K. D. Chathuranga, S. K. A. T. Dharmasena, Nishanta Rajakaruna, M.C.M. Iqbal
Growth And Nickel Uptake By Serpentine And Non-Serpentine Populations Of Fimbristylis Ovata (Cyperaceae) From Sri Lanka, P. K. D. Chathuranga, S. K. A. T. Dharmasena, Nishanta Rajakaruna, M.C.M. Iqbal
Biological Sciences
Compared with serpentine floras of Southeast Asia, the serpentine vegetation of Sri Lanka is impoverished in regard to serpentine endemics and nickel hyperaccumulators. All species so far documented from the serpentine outcrops of Sri Lanka also have non-serpentine populations; it is unclear whether the serpentine populations are physiologically distinct and deserve ecotypic recognition. We conducted a preliminary study to examine whether serpentine and non-serpentine populations of Fimbristylis ovata represent locally adapted ecotypes by investigating their growth and potential for nickel uptake and tolerance under greenhouse conditions. Although both populations of F. ovata showed a similar growth pattern in serpentine soil …
Diversity And Soil-Tissue Elemental Relations Of Vascular Plants Of Callahan Mine, Brooksville, Maine, U.S.A., Margaret R. Mansfield, Nathaniel S. Pope, Glen H. Mittelhauser, Nishanta Rajakaruna
Diversity And Soil-Tissue Elemental Relations Of Vascular Plants Of Callahan Mine, Brooksville, Maine, U.S.A., Margaret R. Mansfield, Nathaniel S. Pope, Glen H. Mittelhauser, Nishanta Rajakaruna
Biological Sciences
Metal-contaminated soils provide numerous stressors to plant life, resulting in unique plant communities worldwide. The current study focuses on the vascular plants of Callahan Mine in Brooksville, ME, USA, a Superfund site contaminated with Cu, Zn, Pb, and other pollutants. One hundred and fifty-five taxa belonging to 50 families were identified, with the Asteraceae (21%), Poaceae (11%), and Rosaceae (9%) as the most species-rich families. Ninety-six species encountered at the Mine were native to North America (62%), including 11 taxa (7%) with rarity status in at least one New England state. Fifty-one species were non-native (33%), including nine taxa (6%) …