BACKGROUND The effect of herbivory on plant fitness varies widely. Understanding the causes of this variation is of considerable interest because of its implications for plant population dynamics and trait evolution. We experimentally defoliated the annual herb Arabidopsis thaliana in a natural population in Sweden to test the hypotheses that (a) plant fitness decreases with increasing damage, ...

We have developed a repressible seed-lethal (SL) system aimed at reducing the probability of transgene introgression into a population of sexually compatible plants. To evaluate the potential of this method, tobacco plants were transformed with an SL construct comprising gene 1 and gene 2 from Agrobacterium tumefaciens whereby gene 1 was controlled by the seed-specific phaseolin promoter modifi...

Pioneer plants are adapted to grow in unpredictable environments. These plants have evolved several traits related to seed morphology and germination to cope with this unpredictability. The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of plant identity and maternal environment on seed mass and germination of Sinapis arvensis. This study was undertaken with S. arvensis plants grown in fo...

Climate warming can modify plant reproductive fitness through direct and indirect pathways. Direct effects include temperature-driven impacts on growth, reproduction, and secondary metabolites. Indirect effects may manifest through altered species interactions, including herbivory, although studies comparing the interactive effects of warming and herbivory are few. We used experimental warming ...

The microbial component of healthy seeds - the seed microbiome - appears to be inherited between plant generations and can dynamically influence germination, plant performance, and survival. As such, methods to optimize the seed microbiomes of major crops could have far-reaching implications for plant breeding and crop improvement to enhance agricultural food, feed, and fiber production. Here, ...

Experiments were conducted to study the plant growth and tuber yield of the seed potato collected from PVY and PLRV infected plants. The seed potatoes were graded as under size (<28 mm), A grade ( 28-40 mm), B grade (41-55 mm) and over size (>55 mm) which were planted following RCBD in the field. Third generation seed potatoes of Diamant variety were used. The incidence of viruses was confirmed...

Seed banks are an important component of many plant populations, but few empirical studies have investigated the genetic relationship between soil seeds and surface plants. We compared the genetic structure of soil seeds and surface plants of the desert mustard Lesquerella fendleri within and among five ecologically diverse populations at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in Central New Me...

Regenerated forests now compose over half of the world's tropical forest cover and are increasingly important as providers of ecosystem services, freshwater, and biodiversity conservation. Much of the value and functionality of regenerating forests depends on the plant diversity they contain. Tropical forest diversity is strongly shaped by mutualistic interactions between plants and fruit-eatin...

Post-dispersal seed predation and endozoochorous seed dispersal are two antagonistic processes in relation to plant recruitment, but rely on similar preconditions such as feeding behavior of seed consumers and seed traits. In agricultural landscapes, rodents are considered important seed predators, thereby potentially providing regulating ecosystem services in terms of biological weed control. ...