Analyses of ribosomal ITS and chloroplast trnL-F sequences provide phylogenetic reconstruction for the festucoids (Poeae: Loliinae), a group of temperate grasses with morphological and molecular affinities to the large genus Festuca. Parsimony and Bayesian analyses of the combined ITS/trnL-F dataset show Loliinae to be monophyletic but unresolved for a weakly supported clade of 'broad-leaved Fe...

1. To study the potential for complementarity in nitrogen acquisition from different soil depths, we injected an isotope tracer ( 15 NH 4 Cl) at 5 and 20 cm depths in plant communities containing Achillea millefolium L. and Festuca ovina L. or Phleum pratense L. and Trifolium pratense L. in monocultures and two-species mixtures. 2. In monoculture, Festuca and Phleum took up tracer at 5 and 20 c...

Plant fructosyltransferases are highly homologous in primary sequence and typically consist of two subunits but catalyze widely different reactions. Using functional expression in the yeast Pichia pastoris, we show that the substrate specificity of festuca sucrose:sucrose 1--beta-D-fructosyltransferase (1-SST) and barley sucrose:fructan 6--beta-D-fructosyltransferase (6-SFT) is entirely determi...

The species within the Lolium/Festuca grass complex have dispersed and colonized large areas of temperate global grasslands both naturally and by human intervention. The species within this grass complex represent some of the most important grass species both for amenity and agricultural use worldwide. There has been renewed interest by grass breeders in producing hybrid combinations between th...

A study of the leaf anatomy in the species of the genus Festuca present in the Iberian Peninsula was made. A total of 68 taxa were included and 15 characters were measured in leaf cross-section. The major anatomical features of each taxonomic group were characterized, and some variability was observed in the taxa. The anatomical patterns observed were compared and discussed with the relationshi...

Festuca rubra is an abundant supratidal grass on sub-arctic James Bay (Canada) shorelines, forming extensive near-monocultures that are used as forage by nesting and migrating geese. Studies at other, more northern North American locations have shown grubbing by geese can have severe consequences for intertidal and supratidal marshes, but these studies have focussed on plant communities that di...