Ground levels of solar UV-B radiation induce DNA damage. Sessile phototrophic organisms such as vascular plants are recurrently exposed to sunlight and require UV-B photoreception, flavonols shielding, direct reversal of pyrimidine dimers and nucleotide excision repair for resistance against UV-B radiation. However, the frequency of UV-B-induced mutations is unknown in plants. Here we quantify ...

In order to stand firmly and efficiently uptake water and nutrients, plants need complex root stock architectures. The root system in maize is characterized by different root types, each of which contributes to the development and establishment of plants in a distinctive manner. During very early development, the embryonic primary and seminal roots are predominant, together with their post-embr...

Phytoremediation is a technology that is based on the combined action of plants and their associated microbial communities to degrade, remove, transform, or immobilize toxic compounds located in soils, sediments, and more recently in polluted ground water and wastewater in treatment wetlands. Phytoremediation could be used to treat different types of contaminants including petroleum hydrocarbon...

BACKGROUND Urban green spaces can harbor a considerable species richness of plants and animals. A few studies on single species groups indicate important habitat functions of cemeteries, but this land use type is clearly understudied compared to parks. Such data are important as they (i) illustrate habitat functions of a specific, but ubiquitous urban land-use type and (ii) may serve as a basis...

Grazing is more than just defoliation of plants. The impact of herbivory affects ecosystem structure and function, both above and below ground. Ultimately, effects of herbivory are expressed to varying degrees at many levels of the ecosystem. Herbivory has been shown to affect plant physiology, morphology, and genetics. Plants have evolved many ways to avoid or tolerate herbivory. Whether plant...

The impact of Argopistes tsekooni Chen (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), a herbivore, on Chinese privet, Ligustrum sinense Lour. (Scrophulariales: Oleaceae), an invasive shrub in the United States, was studied in China. Five densities of adults were inoculated into 3-year-old potted Chinese privet plants in cages under field conditions for 1 month. Plants exposed to high densities of adults were sev...

Isoetid species are small, slow-growing, evergreen water plants with thick, stiff leaves or stems that form basal rosettes and have a proportionally large below ground biomass. Isoetids often dominate carbonate poor (weakly buffered) and nutrient poor (oligotrophic) water and are characterized by a (very) slow growth rate. The special adaptations to oligotrophic conditions enable them to grow w...