Ambient temperature regulates many aspects of plant growth and development, but its sensors are unknown. Here, we demonstrate that the phytochrome B (phyB) photoreceptor participates in temperature perception through its temperature-dependent reversion from the active Pfr state to the inactive Pr state. Increased rates of thermal reversion upon exposing Arabidopsis seedlings to warm environment...

Although soil-dwelling Collembola can influence plant growth and nutrient cycling, their specific role in soil food webs is poorly understood. Soil-free microcosm studies suggest that Collembola are primarily fungivores where they feed preferentially on saprophytic fungi (SF) over other fungal types. We directly assessed collembolan consumption of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and SF using...

The exposure of dark-grown Pharbitis nil seedlings to continuous R induces a rapid decrease in PHYA mRNA abundance with a half-life of about 2 h. A 5 min R pulse also induces this decline, and the effect is partially reversible by subsequent FR irradiation, confirming that the regulation of expression is mediated via the Pfr form of a phytochrome. When de-etiolated seedlings are returned to dar...

Mature microRNAs (miRNAs) are small endogenous non-coding RNAs 18-25 nt in length. They program the RNA Induced Silencing Complex (RISC) to make it inhibit either messenger RNAs or promoter DNAs. We have found that the mean abundance of miRNAs in Arabidopsis is correlated with the abundance of DRYD tetranucleotides near the 3'-end and the abundance of WRHB tetranucleotides in the center of the ...

In forests, the vulnerable seedling stage is largely influenced by the canopy, which modifies the surrounding environment. Consequently, any alteration in the characteristics of the canopy, such as those promoted by forest dieback, might impact regeneration dynamics. Our work analyzes the interaction between canopy neighbors and seedlings in Mediterranean forests affected by the decline of thei...

Recent studies indicate that lianas are increasing in size and abundance relative to trees in neotropical forests. As a result, forest dynamics and carbon balance may be altered through liana-induced suppression of tree growth and increases in tree mortality. Increasing atmospheric CO2 is hypothesized to be responsible for the increase in neotropical lianas, yet no study has directly compared t...

We previously demonstrated that microRNA396 (miR396) abundance is altered in 15-day-old Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) whole seedlings following their exposure to a 7-day salt stress treatment regime. We, therefore, used molecular modification approach generate two new transformant populations with reduced (MIM396 plants) and elevated (MIR396 miR396 abundance. The of 8-day-old wild-type rep...

Multiple consumers often attack seeds, seedlings, and adult plants, but their population-level consequences remain uncertain. We examined how insect and small mammal consumers influenced the demography and abundance of the perennial shrub, bush lupine (Lupinus arboreus). In grassland and dune habitats we established replicate experimental lupine populations in 81-m2 plots that were either prote...

Fungal endophytes inhabit healthy tissues of all terrestrial plant taxa studied to date and are diverse and abundant in leaves of tropical woody angiosperms. Studies have demonstrated that plant location and leaf age influence density of endophyte infection in leaves of tropical forest trees. However, ecological factors underlying these observations have not been explored in detail. Here, we es...