Enemy release of exotic plants from soil pathogens has been tested by examining plant-soil feedback effects in repetitive growth cycles. However, positive soil feedback may also be due to enhanced benefit from the local arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Few studies actually have tested pathogen effects, and none of them did so in arid savannas. In the Kalahari savanna in Botswana, we compared...

Since 2001, patches of dying vegetation have been observed in Georgia marshes, generally during periods of dry or drought conditions. These events are collectively referred to as salt marsh dieback. Salt marsh dieback is characterized by the thinning and browning of Spartina alterniflora and other marsh grasses which eventually leads to plant death. This is a concern because salt marsh habitat ...

Differences in nutrient content between different grass hay varieties are much smaller than differences between legumes and grasses (Table 1). Cool-season grasses (grown in temperate climates) include timothy, orchardgrass, fescue and annual ryegrass. Warm-season grasses (adapted to tropical and subtropical regions, like Florida) include Coastal bermudagrass, Tifton-85 bermudagrass, and bahiagr...

The genomes of grasses are very different in terms of size, ploidy level and chromosome number. Despite these significant differences, it was found by comparative mapping that the linear order (colinearity) of genetic markers and genes is very well conserved between different grass genomes. The potential of such conservation has been exploited in several directions, e.g. in defining rice as a m...

Plant toxins are the chemical defenses of plants against herbivory. Grasses have relatively few intrinsic toxins, relying more on growth habit to survive defoliation and endophytic fungal toxins as chemical defenses. Forage grasses that contain intrinsic toxins include Phalaris spp. (tryptamine and carboline alkaloids), sorghums (cyanogenic glycosides), and tropical grasses containing oxalates ...

Setaria viridis (green foxtail) is an important model plant for the study of C4 photosynthesis in panicoid grasses, and is fast emerging as a system of choice for the study of plant development, domestication, abiotic stress responses and evolution. Basic research findings in Setaria are expected to advance research not only in this species and its close relative S. italica (foxtail millet), bu...