The sedges (family Cyperaceae) are an economically and ecologically important monocot group dating back at least to the Paleocene. While modern genera are mostly unknown before the Oligocene, several extinct taxa are recognized as the earliest sedges. Their affinities have been unclear until now, because they are found as isolated, often abraded fruits or endocarps. Exceptionally preserved sedg...

Stable carbon isotope analyses have shown that South African australopiths did not have exclusively frugivorous diets, but also consumed significant quantities of C4 foods such as grasses, sedges, or animals that ate these foods. Yet, these studies have had significant limitations. For example, hominin sample sizes were relatively small, leading some to question the veracity of the claim for au...

INTRODUCTION Ornamental grasses and sedges have a long history. Are they a new crop? Yes, both old and new at the same time. And a crop that has had a dramatic impact on the appearance of our developed landscape, on the work of landscape architects and planting designers, on nursery producers and landscape managers, and on researchers! Millions and millions of units of grasses and sedges are cu...

Background Northern peatlands have accumulated vast amounts of carbon (C) as peat. Warming temperatures may affect peatland C stores by increasing microbial decomposition ancient peat through enhanced input labile root exudates expansion vascular plants, thereby accelerating atmospheric warming. Aims We set out to explore how much freshly assimilated is allocated belowground and if the above- a...

REZNICEK, A. A. 1990. Evolution in sedges (Carex, Cyperaceae). Can. J. Bot. 68: 1409-1432. Carex is the largest and most widespread genus of Cyperaceae, but evolutionary relationships within it are poorly understood. Subgenus Primocarex was generally thought to be artificial and derived from diverse multispicate species. Relationships of rachilla-bearing species of subgenus Primocarex, however,...

High latitude wetlands play an important role for the surface-atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), but fluxes of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) in these ecosystems have to date not been extensively studied. This is despite BVOC representing a measurable proportion of the total gaseous C fluxes at northern locations and in the face of the high temperature se...

Changes in holocentric chromosome number due to fission and fusion have direct immediate effects on genome structure recombination rates. These, turn, may influence ecology evolutionary trajectories profoundly. Sedges of the genus Carex (Cyperaceae) comprise ca. 2000 species with chromosomes. The exhibits a phenomenal range (2n = 10 − 132) almost not polyploidy. In this study, we integrated mos...

Flow resistance of natural grasses, sedges and willows was studied in a laboratory flume. The objective was to investigate, how type, density and placement of vegetation, flow depth and velocity influence friction losses. The plants were studied in various combinations under nonsubmerged and submerged conditions in a total of 350 test runs. The results show large variations in the friction fact...