F. R. Richardson

Bio: F. R. Richardson is an academic researcher. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 441 citations.

role of trichomes in plant defense

Abstract: Trichomes occur in a multitude of forms and sizes. Although they have been used widely for taxonomic purposes, their adaptive significance has been all but ignored by the evolutionist and ecologist. It is clear that trichomes play a role in plant defense, especially with regard to phytophagous insects. In numerous species there is a negative correlation between trichome density and insect feeding and oviposition responses, and the nutrition of larvae. Specialized hooked trichomes may impale adults or larvae as well. Trichome may also complement the chemical defense of a plant by possessing glands which exude terpenes, phenolics, alkaloids or other substances which are olfactory or gustatory repellents. In essence, glandular trichomes afford an outer line of chemical defense by advertising the presence of \"noxious\" compounds. In some groups of plants, protection against large mammals is achieved by the presence of stinging trichomes. Intraspecific variation for trichome type and density is known in many species, and often is clinal in accordance with ecographic parameters. The presence of such correlations does not imply that differences in predator pressure are the causal factors, although this may indeed be the case.

A cost-income model of leaves and roots with special reference to arid and semiarid areas

Abstract: The richness of plant-life forms, ranging from unicellular algae to large trees, from trailing herbs to large climbing vines, and from ephemerals to long-lived perennials, suggests that a variety of environmental factors exert important influences on plant shapes (Terborgh 1973). In this paper we describe a model in which the inevitable association between water loss and entrance of carbon dioxide through stomates, together with cell-morphological and physiological traits that affect these exchanges, prevent any one plant-life form from being the best adapted to more than a fraction of the earth's complex patterns of temperature and moisture availability. These relationships may also explain apparently stable mixtures of plants with different life forms in a single environment. The tight linking of water loss and carbon uptake affects all aspects of the total photosynthetic and materials uptake system of vascular plants, because reducing water loss lowers rates of carbon uptake and hence lowers rates of net photosynthesis per unit area of photosynthesizing surface. The combination of characters that yields maximum net photosynthesis per unit time under moist conditions reduces the maximum rate under drier conditions, and vice versa. There are, of course, mechanisms, such as C4 photosynthesis and opening stomata only when atmospheric humidity is high, which reduce water loss per molecule of carbon fixed, but these mechanisms are of limited effectiveness and have associated costs. Any model of natural selection assumes both some "goal" that is being optimized (or maximized) and the constraints within which the organisms operate. A reasonable short-range goal for plants might be the maximization of photosynthetic rate; a plant capable of increasing photosynthesis within the constraints of its available resources and the physical environment should gain advantages in competition with other plants, defenses against herbivores, and should have more energy to devote to reproduction. We assume in our model that total fitness is strongly correlated with net gain in calories and that it is reasonable to treat allocations of resources to leaves, stems, and roots in terms of calories. Thus, we ignore other potentially significant factors, e.g., nonuniform mortality risks due to herbivory or pathogens, which should influence the

Malpighiales Phylogenetics: Gaining Ground on One of the Most Recalcitrant Clades in the Angiosperm Tree of Life

Abstract: The eudicot order Malpighiales contains ∼16000 species and is the most poorly resolved large rosid clade. To clarify phylogenetic relationships in the order, we used maximum likelihood, Bayesian, and parsimony analyses of DNA sequence data from 13 gene regions, totaling 15604 bp, and representing all three genomic compartments (i.e., plastid: atpB, matK, ndhF, and rbcL; mitochondrial: ccmB, cob, matR, nad1B-C, nad6, and rps3; and nuclear: 18S rDNA, PHYC, and newly developed low-copy EMB2765). Our sampling of 190 taxa includes representatives from all families of Malpighiales. These data provide greatly increased support for the recent additions of Aneulophus, Bhesa, Centroplacus, Ploiarium, and Rafflesiaceae to Malpighiales; sister relations of Phyllanthaceae + Picrodendraceae, monophyly of Hypericaceae, and polyphyly of Clusiaceae. Oxalidales + Huaceae, followed by Celastrales are successive sisters to Malpighiales. Parasitic Rafflesiaceae, which produce the world's largest flowers, are confirmed as embedded within a paraphyletic Euphorbiaceae. Novel findings show a well-supported placement of Ctenolophonaceae with Erythroxylaceae + Rhizophoraceae, sister-group relationships of Bhesa + Centroplacus, and the exclusion of Medusandra from Malpighiales. New taxonomic circumscriptions include the addition of Bhesa to Centroplacaceae, Medusandra to Peridiscaceae (Saxifragales), Calophyllaceae applied to Clusiaceae subfamily Kielmeyeroideae, Peraceae applied to Euphorbiaceae subfamily Peroideae, and Huaceae included in Oxalidales.

A phylogenetic analysis of Rhamnaceae using rbcL and trnL-F plastid DNA sequences.

Abstract: Previous tribal classifications of Rhamnaceae have been based on fruit characters, resulting in the delimitation of large and otherwise heterogeneous groups. We evaluated the most recent classification with DNA sequences of two regions of the plastid genome, rbcL and trnL-F, from 42 genera of Rhamnaceae and representatives of the related families Elaeagnaceae, Barbeyaceae, Dirachmaceae, Urticaceae, Ulmaceae, Moraceae, and Rosaceae. The trnL-F trees have higher consistency and retention indices than the rbcL trees, and patterns of change in rbcL and trnL-F are compared. The closest relatives of Rhamnaceae are Dirachmaceae and Barbeyaceae, followed by the urticalean families. The plastid trees support the monophyly of the family and provide the basis for a new tribal classification. Three strongly supported clades are identified, but morphological characters could not be found to underpin a formal taxonomic description of these three clades as subfamilies. We therefore only recognize groups that are also defined by morphological characters. The biogeography of Rhamnaceae is discussed with reference to the molecular trees.