alfalfa is the best known fodder crop with high ability of biological nitrogen fixation and drought tolerance in dry, pannonian region of east austria. different morphological and physiological characteristics of 18 alfalfa genotypes from different geographical origins, 8 iranian ecotypes and 10 european cultivars were evaluated under irrigated and rainfed conditions during 2006-08 cropping sea...

In species with high gene flow and consequent low interpopulation differentiation over wide geographic ranges, differential gene expression along ecological gradients often reveals adaptive significance. We investigated potential differences in protein expression between Picea abies ecotypes adapted to contrasting altitude conditions. Protein expression patterns were compared between needles an...

We have investigated microbial mats of alkaline siliceous hot springs in Yellowstone National Park as natural model communities to learn how microbial populations group into species-like fundamental units. Here, we bring together empirical patterns of the distribution of molecular variation in predominant mat cyanobacterial populations, theory-based modelling of how to demarcate phylogenetic cl...

Identification of closely related, ecologically distinct populations of bacteria would benefit microbiologists working in many fields including systematics, epidemiology and biotechnology. Several laboratories have recently developed algorithms aimed at demarcating such 'ecotypes'. We examine the ability of four of these algorithms to correctly identify ecotypes from sequence data. We tested th...

Adaptation to latitudinal patterns of environmental variation is predicted to result in clinal variation in leaf traits. Therefore, this study tested for geographic differentiation and plastic responses to vernalization in leaf angle and leaf morphology in Arabidopsis thaliana. Twenty-one European ecotypes were grown in a common growth chamber environment. Replicates of each ecotype were expose...

We report AtPRIMER, an application that automates the discovery of new polymorphic markers between ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana. On specifying two ecotypes and the genomic region of interest, the script retrieves all corresponding single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and generates CAPS and/or dCAPS PCR primer sequences. We show that AtPRIMER accurately found specific polymorphic markers f...

The argan tree (Argania spinosa) occurs in a restricted area of Southwestern Morocco characterized by low water availability and high evapotranspirative demand. Despite the adaptation of the argan tree to drought stress, the extent of the argan forest has declined markedly due to increased aridity, land use changes and the expansion of olive cultivation. The oil of the argan seed is used for co...

Consumer-resource interactions are a central issue in evolutionary and community ecology because they play important roles in selection and population regulation. Most consumers encounter resource variation at multiple scales, and respond through phenotypic plasticity in the short term or evolutionary divergence in the long term. The key traits for these responses may influence resource acquisi...