BACKGROUND The responses of plant seeds and seedlings to changing atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition and precipitation regimes determine plant population dynamics and community composition under global change. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In a temperate steppe in northern China, seeds of P. tanacetifolia were collected from a field-based experiment with N addition and increased precipitati...

Widespread invasion by Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass) in the Intermountain West has drastically altered native plant communities. We investigated whether Elymus multisetus (big squirreltail) is evolving in response to invasion and what traits contribute to increased performance. Seedlings from invaded areas exhibited significantly greater tolerance to B. tectorum competition and a greater ability...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Although the causes and consequences of seedling herbivory for plant community composition are well understood, the mechanisms by which herbivores influence plant species recruitment to the established phase remain less clear. The aim was to examine how variation in the intensity of seedling herbivory interacts with growth-defence trade-offs and herbivore feeding preferences...

Inundative releases of beneÞcial insects are frequently used to suppress pest insects but not commonly attempted as amethod of weed biological control because of the difÞculty in obtaining the required large numbers of insects. The successful establishment of a ßea beetle complex, mixed Aphthona lacertosa (Rosenhauer) and Aphthona nigriscutus Foundras (87 and 13%, respectively), for the control...

Separating edaphic impacts on tree distributions from those of climate and geography is notoriously difficult. Aboveground and belowground factors play important roles, and determining their relative contribution to tree success will greatly assist in refining predictive models and forestry strategies in a changing climate. In a common glasshouse, seedlings of interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga ...

A plant phenotyping approach was applied to evaluate growth rate of containerized tree seedlings during the precultivation phase following seed germination. A simple and affordable stereo optical system was used to collect stereoscopic red-green-blue (RGB) images of seedlings at regular intervals of time. Comparative analysis of these images by means of a newly developed software enabled us to ...

geostatistical techniques were used to describe the spatial distribution of weeds, under conventional management conditions and theirs effect on wheat biomass production over the course of one growing season (2008-2009), in a wheat (triticum aestivum l.) field at research station of shahrood university, iran. weeds seedling were identified and counted at 121 points of field based on two interva...

Inundative releases of beneficial insects are frequently used to suppress pest insects but not commonly attempted as a method of weed biological control because of the difficulty in obtaining the required large numbers of insects. The successful establishment of a flea beetle complex, mixed Aphthona lacertosa (Rosenhauer) and Aphthona nigriscutus Foundras (87 and 13%, respectively), for the con...

Eucalyptus cultivation has expanded considerably in Brazilian systems, leading to the current search for technologies to optimize growing conditions and the production of seedlings in nurseries. Based on the understanding that the development of tree species such as Eucalyptus sp. can be influenced by endophytic fungi that act directly as plant growth-promoting species, cloned seedlings of Euca...

1 Corresponding author: [email protected]; (901) 678-1502; fax: (901) 678-4746 ABSTRACT: A greater than 98% decline in Arundinaria gigantea (Walt.) Muhl. (giant cane or river cane) canebrake communities have resulted in a critically endangered ecosystem. Historical accounts suggest loss of canebrake habitat has resulted in the extirpation (and perhaps extinction) of many species. Thus, caneb...