Journal•ISSN: 1755-0874
Plant Ecology & Diversity
Taylor & Francis
About: Plant Ecology & Diversity is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Species richness & Plant community. It has an ISSN identifier of 1755-0874. Over the lifetime, 582 publications have been published receiving 11489 citations. The journal is also known as: Plant ecology and diversity.
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TL;DR: The authors argued that the concept of "cryptic refugia" is also applicable to arctic and alpine plants during temperate interglacial stages where small localised populations grow in naturally open habitats that are not beyond or above the forest limit.
Abstract: Refugia were critically important for species survival in both glacial and interglacial stages of the Quaternary. The classical view of glacial stages is that alpine and arctic plants were widespread in the lowlands of central Europe and around the margins of the continental and alpine ice-sheets, whereas trees were restricted to localised refugial areas in southern Europe and the Mediterranean basin. New palaeobotanical evidence in Europe suggests, however, that this classical view is incomplete and that tree distributional ranges during the glacial stages were more extensive and included many local areas of small populations in central and eastern Europe growing in so-called ‘cryptic’ refugia. We argue that this concept of ‘cryptic’ refugia is also applicable to arctic and alpine plants during temperate interglacial stages where small localised populations grow in naturally open habitats that are not beyond or above the forest limit. Determination of the whereabouts of these cold- and warm-stage ‘crypti...
324 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors summarise current understanding of the influence that global climate change has on the physiological properties, productivity and assemblage composition of marine phytoplankton.
Abstract: The planet is currently going through a period of global climate change, the pace of which is unprecedented in geological history. Marine phytoplankton contribute approximately 50% of the total global primary productivity and play a vital role in global carbon cycling. Consequently it is extremely important to understand the impact that global climate change will have on the ecological performance of these organisms. In this review we summarise current understanding of the influence that global climate change has on the physiological properties, productivity and assemblage composition of marine phytoplankton. While most phytoplankton are likely to show little direct effect of elevated CO2 on photosynthetic rates, some, including the ecologically important coccolithophorids, are likely to show significant stimulation of growth. The rise in temperature consequent upon the elevated atmospheric levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases will stimulate growth of some species and increase ocean temperatures in so...
181 citations
TL;DR: This review shows that living under a shade affects biotic and abiotic stress tolerance of plants, it also influences the outcomes of both symbiotic and competitive plant–plant and plant–animal interactions in a complex and dynamic manner.
Abstract: Shade, in ecological sense, is not merely a lack of light, but a multi-faceted phenomenon that creates new and complex settings for community and ecosystem dynamics. Tolerating shade therefore affects plants’ ability to cope with other stressors, and also shape its interactions with surrounding organisms. The aim of this broad review was to map our current knowledge about how shade affects plants, plant communities and ecosystems – to gather together knowledge of what we know, but also to point out what we do not yet know. This review covers the following topics: the nature of shade, and ecological and physiological complexities related to growing under a canopy; plants’ capability of tolerating other stress factors while living under a shade – resource trade-offs and polytolerance of abiotic stress; ontogenetic effects of shade tolerance; coexistence patterns under the canopy – how shade determines the forest structure and diversity; shade-induced abiotic dynamics in understorey vegetation, including cha...
173 citations
TL;DR: A critical review on the mechanisms employed by endophytic fungi in biological disease control is provided to provide a critical review of the complex interactions between plant, pathogen and endophyte and discuss implications for future research.
Abstract: Background: Fungal endophytes occur ubiquitously in plants and are being increasingly studied for their ability to support plant health and protect the host from diseases. Using endophytes ...
130 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a new proxy for water table depth, the terrain height above nearest drainage (HAND), was tested as a predictor of composition in trees, lianas, palms, shrubs, and herbs.
Abstract: Background: Plant composition changes with topography and edaphic gradients that correlate with soil-water and nutrient availability. Data on soil water for the Amazon Basin are scarce, limiting the possibility of distinguishing between soil and soil-water influences on plant composition. Aim: We tested a new proxy for water table depth, the terrain height above nearest drainage (HAND), as a predictor of composition in trees, lianas, palms, shrubs, and herbs and compared HAND to conventional measures of height above sea level (HASL) and horizontal distances from nearest drainage (HDND). Methods: Plant-species composition in 72 plots distributed across 64 km2 of lowland evergreen terra firme forest was summarised using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). NMDS scores were regressed against estimates of HAND, HASL and HDND. Results: Plant composition was highly correlated with the vertical distance from water table, capturing up to 82% of variation. All life forms showed highest turnover rates in the...
121 citations