Darwin [1], used morphological characters or polygenic traits to describe the hierarchy in complexity among related and distant species although he was unaware of the source of variation. Only later, after the discovery of Mendel’s laws explained that the genetic variations are generated by mutations. Speciation is based on the analysis of the extent of similarity among a wide variety of morpho...

ured. Morphological changes were analyzed by both multivariate and geometric morphometric methods. Results obtained by the two methods were in concordance. Shape analysis allows us to discriminate predator-induced, competitor-induced and drying-induced morphotypes. Life-history traits under isolated environmental factors were also consistent with precedent studies. In complex environments we ob...

Leaves and absorptive roots (i.e., first-order root) are above- and belowground plant organs related to resource acquisition; however, it is controversy over whether these two sets of functional traits vary in a coordinated manner. Here, we examined the relationships between analogous above- and belowground traits, including chemical (tissue C and N concentrations) and morphological traits (thi...

Salinization is an important and increasingly prevalent issue which has broad and profound effects on plant survival and distribution pattern. To understand the patterns and potential drivers of leaf traits in saline environments, we determined the soil properties, leaf morphological traits (specific leaf area, SLA, and leaf dry matter content, LDMC), leaf chemical traits (leaf carbon, C, nitro...

To accelerate domestication of Miscanthus, an important energy crop, 244 replicated genotypes, including two different species and their hybrids, were analysed for morphological traits and biomass yield over three growing seasons following an establishment phase of 2 years in the largest Miscanthus diversity trial described to date. Stem and leaf traits were selected that contributed both direc...

The development, function, and integration of morphological characteristics are all hypothesized to influence the utility of traits for phylogenetic reconstruction by affecting the way in which morphological characteristics evolve. We use a baboon model to test the hypotheses about phenotypic and quantitative genetic variation of traits in the cranium that bear on a phenotype's propensity to ev...

The genetic diversity among 56 almond (Prunus dulcis) genotypes was analysed using 35 microsatellite markers and 14 morphological traits. Analysis of morphological traits revealed a wide range of variation among the studied genotypes. Out of 35 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers, 25 were polymorphic, producing 215 alleles that varied from 2 to 16 with an average of 8.76 alleles per locus. R...

Understanding the genetic basis of phenotypic variation is essential for predicting the direction and rate of phenotypic evolution. We estimated heritabilities and genetic correlations of morphological (fork length, pectoral and pelvic fin ray counts, and gill arch raker counts) and life-history (egg number and individual egg weight) traits of pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) from Likes Cre...

Despite the relative simplicity of their modular growth, marine invertebrates such as arborescent gorgonian octocorals (Octocorallia: Cnidaria) generate complex colonial forms. Colony form in these taxa is a consequence of modular (polyp) replication, and if there is a tight integration among modular and supramodular traits (e.g. polyp aperture, inter-polyp spacing, branch thickness, internode ...

pepper belongs to the family of solanaceae that is being used as a food flavoring, a coloring agent, a pharmaceutical ingredient and in other innovative ways. this study was carried out to evaluation of genetic diversity in pepper genotypes using 40 morphological traits on 77 genotypes in augmented design with three controls. measuring of traits of pepper genotypes were performed based on ecpgr...