This study reports the analyses of the rhizospheric microbiome of the terrestrial mangrove fern Acrostichum aureum Linn. from the Indian Sunderbans. Samples were collected using standard protocols and 16S rRNA gene V3-V4 region amplicon sequencing was performed to identify the microbial communities prevalent in the rhizosphere. A total of 1,931,252 quality checked reads were assembled into 204,...

Underwater air retention of superhydrophobic hierarchically structured surfaces is of increasing interest for technical applications. Persistent air layers (the Salvinia effect) are known from biological species, for example, the floating fern Salvinia or the backswimmer Notonecta. The use of this concept opens up new possibilities for biomimetic technical applications in the fields of drag red...

Enormous quantities of the free-floating freshwater fern Azolla grew and reproduced in situ in the Arctic Ocean during the middle Eocene, as was demonstrated by microscopic analysis of microlaminated sediments recovered from the Lomonosov Ridge during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 302. The timing of the Azolla phase (approximately 48.5 Ma) coincides with the earliest signs...

In today's angiosperm-dominated terrestrial ecosystems, leptosporangiate ferns are truly exceptional--accounting for 80% of the approximately 11,000 nonflowering vascular plant species. Recent studies have shown that this remarkable diversity is mostly the result of a major leptosporangiate radiation beginning in the Cretaceous, following the rise of angiosperms. This pattern is suggestive of a...

Fragmentation of natural habitats is one of the main causes of the loss of biodiversity. However, all plants do not respond to habitat fragmentation in the same way due to differences in species traits. We studied the effect of patch size and isolation on the biodiversity of vegetation in the mixed-oak forests in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. The aim was to evaluate whether all the growth...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Despite long-held interest, knowledge on why leaf size varies widely among species is still incomplete. This study was conducted to assess whether abiotic factors, phylogenetic histories and multi-trait interactions act together to shape leaf size. METHODS Fifty-seven pairs of altitudinal vicariant species were selected in northern Spain, and leaf area and a number of func...

Currently changes in the earth's vegetative cover have reached a planetary scale. The danger of extinction species and ecosystems has become increasingly significant. Active measures must be undertaken to restore particular plant populations order minimise an ongoing loss species. Polystichum craspedosorum is cliff-dwelling fern, East-Asian relict whose northern range includes Russian Far East....