in order to evaluate of diversity among new maize hybrids for quantitative and morphological traits, 17 new single cross maize hybrids were studied in shahrood agriculture research station using randomized complete blocks design with four replications. results showed that five independent factors were responsible for significant correlation between 16 measured traits and explained 89.18% of tot...

The architectural complexity of flower structures (hereafter referred to as floral complexity) may be linked to pollination by specialized pollinators that can increase the probability of successful seed set. As plant-pollinator systems become fragile, a loss of such specialized pollinators could presumably result in an increased likelihood of pollination failure. This is an issue likely to be ...

Decomposition is a critical source of plant nutrients, and drives the largest flux of terrestrial C to the atmosphere. Decomposing soil organic matter typically contains litter from multiple plant species, yet we lack a mechanistic understanding of how species diversity influences decomposition processes. Here, we show that soil C and N cycling during decomposition are controlled by the composi...

there is substantial diversity in achillea biebersteinii plants in iran. it has considerable different biological activities including antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, insecticidal, herbicidal and wound healing. research improvement for medicinal plants depends on the available genetic diversity. the assessment of genetic variability could increase the information for breeding programs. ...

Crop plants exhibit a wide diversity of defensive traits and strategies to protect themselves from damage by herbivorous pests and disease. These defensive traits may be naturally occurring or artificially selected through crop breeding, including introduction via genetic engineering. While these traits can have obvious and direct impacts on herbivorous pests, many have profound effects on high...

Responses of plant traits to climate changes are complex, which could be mirrored by the investigations of herbarium specimens. By examining specimens of Rosa and Cotoneaster species collected since 1920s in Hengduan Mountains, we analyzed the changes of flowering phenology and flower size in the past century when climate changes were considered to be intensified. We found that flowering phenol...

Trait-based approaches provide a useful framework to investigate plant strategies for resource acquisition, growth, and competition, as well as plant impacts on ecosystem processes. Despite significant progress capturing trait variation within and among stems and leaves, identification of trait syndromes within fine-root systems and between fine roots and other plant organs is limited. Here we ...

Given finite resources, intense investment in one life history trait is expected to reduce investment in others. Although telomere length appears to be strongly tied to age in many taxa, telomere maintenance requires energy. We therefore hypothesize that telomere maintenance may trade off against other life history characters. We used natural variation in laboratory populations of Atlantic silv...