Recent studies suggest the long-standing discrepancy between measured and modeled leaf litter decomposition in drylands is, in part, the result of a unique combination of abiotic drivers that include high soil surface temperature and radiant energy levels and soil-litter mixing. Temperature and radiant energy effects on litter decomposition have been widely documented. However, under field cond...

Tef, Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter, is the most important cereal in Ethiopia. Tef is cultivated by more than five million small-scale farmers annually and constitutes the staple food for more than half of the population of 80 million. The crop is preferred by both farmers and consumers due to its beneficial traits associated with its agronomy and utilization. The genetic and phenotypic diversi...

We investigated the utility of association mapping to dissect the genetic basis of naturally occurring variation in bud phenology in European aspen (Populus tremula). With this aim, we surveyed nucleotide polymorphism in 13 fragments spanning an 80-kb region surrounding the phytochrome B2 (phyB2) locus. Although polymorphism varies substantially across the phyB2 region, we detected no signs for...

Asexual reproduction is a common and fundamental mode of reproduction in plants. Although persistence in adverse conditions underlies most known cases of clonal dominance, proximal genetic drivers remain unclear, in particular for populations dominated by a few large clones. In this study, we studied a clonal population of the riparian tree Populus alba in the Douro river basin (northwestern Ib...

The paper presents the results of an experiment on propagation aspen clones (Populus tremula L.) diploid and triploid genotypes resistant to pith rot by methods microclonal reproduction their introduction into forestry production in Republic Tatarstan. expediency using this method for obtaining healthy planting material has been substantiated, prospects clone No. 35 with a genotype have shown.

To further our understanding of plant defense evolution and the consistency of selection at the nucleotide level we analysed polymorphism data from five protease inhibitor (PI) genes in Populus balsamifera. We compared diversity at the five PI genes to diversity at nondefense loci in both range-wide samples as well as in two subpopulations, one from the northern edge of the species range and on...

We investigated the utility of association mapping to dissect the genetic basis of naturally occurring variation in bud phenology in European aspen (Populus tremula). With this aim, we surveyed nucleotide polymorphism in 13 fragments spanning an 80 kb region surrounding the phytochromeB2 locus. Although polymorphism varies substantially across the phyB2 region, we detected no signs for deviatio...

Despite the global economic and ecological importance of forest trees, the genomic basis of differential adaptation and speciation in tree species is still poorly understood. Populus tremula and Populus tremuloides are two of the most widespread tree species in the Northern Hemisphere. Using whole-genome re-sequencing data of 24 P. tremula and 22 P. tremuloides individuals, we find that the two...

To overcome environmental stress, plants develop physiological responses that are triggered by genetic or epigenetic changes, some of which involve DNA methylation. It has been proposed that apomixis, the formation of asexual seeds without meiosis, occurs through the temporal or spatial deregulation of the sexual process mediated by genetic and epigenetic factors influenced by the environment. ...