Acclimation to changing light conditions plays a crucial role in determining the competitive capability of tree species. There is currently limited information about acclimation to natural light gradient and its effect on shoot structure and biomass in Taxus species. We examined the acclimation of the leaf and shoot axis morphology, structure and biomass allocation of Taxus yunnanensis and T. c...

In the present study, properties of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) such as average size, size distribution andmorphology were investigated by Tollens, polysaccharide, modified polysaccharide and microbial methods.The synthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy(SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamics light scatterin...

Leafcutting ants (Atta and Acromyrmex) sometimes form piles or caches of leaves on foraging trails. Laboratory experiments have shown that leaf caching at the nest entrance by Atta cephalotes and Atta colombica is adaptive because it occurs when a colony’s leaf delivery rate exceeds its leaf-processing rate and serves to increase the probability that a dropped leaf is eventually recovered. We e...

Leaves between species vary in their size, serration, complexity, and shape. However, phylogeny is not the only predictor of leaf morphology. The shape of a leaf is the result of intricate developmental processes, including heteroblastic progression (changes in leaf size and shape at different nodes) and the developmental stage of an organ. The leaflets that arise from complex leaves are additi...

Leaf-level morphological and structural adaptations to reduce water loss were examined in five olive (Olea europaea L.) tree cultivars (Arbequina, Blanqueta, Cobrançosa, Manzanilla and Negrinha) growing under field conditions with low water availability. Leaf measurements included leaf tissue thickness, stomatal density, leaf area, leaf mass per unit area, density of leaf tissue, relative water...

Little is known about how the leaf bacterial community is affected by the seed microbiota at different stages of plant development. The bacterial populations of spinach seed and leaves after germination were compared using DGGE, to assess bacterial community richness, and realtime PCR to compare the abundance of select phyla (total bacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, -Proteoba...

Dryobalanops aromatica Gaertn. f. is a major tropical canopy species in lowland tropical rain forests in Peninsular Malaysia. Diurnal changes in net photosynthetic rate (A) and stomatal conductance to water vapor (g(s)) were measured in fully expanded young and old leaves in the uppermost canopy (35 m above ground). Maximum A was 12 and 10 micro mol m(-2) s(-1) in young and old leaves, respecti...

We investigated whole-plant leaf area in relation to ontogenetic variation in leaf-size for a forest perennial herb, Cardiocrinum cordatum. The 200-fold ontogenetic variability in C. cordatum leaf area followed a power-law dependence on total leaf number, a measure of developmental stage. When we normalized for plant size, the function describing the size of single leaves along the stem was sim...

The scaling relationship between leaf dry mass and leaf surface area has important implications for understanding the ability of plants to harvest sunlight and grow. Whether and how the scaling relationships vary across environmental gradients are poorly understood. We analyzed the scaling relationships between leaf mass and leaf area of 121 vascular plant species along an altitudinal gradient ...

Unsolved Mystery L eaf size depends on cell number and size. However, leaves are not simply the sum of cell size and number; rather, they are under the control of an unknown, organ-wide integration system. The existence of such a system is strongly suggested by two mysterious phenomena: compensation and high-ploidy syndrome. Compensation is characterized by cell enlargement triggered by a signi...