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- Bolmgren, Kjell, et al.
(author)
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One man, 73 years, and 25 species. Evaluating phenological responses using a lifelong study of first flowering dates
- 2013
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In: International journal of biometeorology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0020-7128 .- 1432-1254. ; 57:3, s. 367-375
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Phenological shifts linked to global warming reflect the ability of organisms to track changing climatic conditions. However, different organisms track global warming differently and there is an increasing interest in the link between phenological traits and plant abundance and distribution. Long-term data sets are often used to estimate phenological traits to climate change, but so far little has been done to evaluate the quality of these estimates. Here, we use a 73-year long data series of first flowering dates for 25 species from north-temperate Sweden to evaluate (i) correlations between first flowering dates and year for different time periods and (ii) linear regression models between first flowering date and mean monthly temperatures in preceding months. Furthermore, we evaluate the potential of this kind of data to estimate the phenological temperature sensitivities (i.e. number of days phenological change per degree temperature change, beta(60)) in such models. The sign of the correlations between first flowering dates and year were highly inconsistent among different time periods, highlighting that estimates of phenological change are sensitive to the specific time period used. The first flowering dates of all species were correlated with temperature, but with large differences in both the strength of the response and the period(s) of the year that were most strongly associated with phenological variation. Finally, our analyses indicated that legacy data sets need to be relatively long-term to be useful for estimating phenological temperature sensitivities (beta(60)) for inter-specific comparisons. In 10-year long observation series only one out of 24 species reached a parts per thousand yen80 % probability of estimating temperature sensitivity (beta(60)) within a +/- 1 range, and 17 out of 24 species reached a parts per thousand yen80 % probability when observation series were 20 years or shorter. The standard error for beta(60) ranged from 0.6 to 2.0 for 10-year long observation series, and 19 out of 24 species reached SE < 1 after 15 years. In general, late flowering species will require longer time series than early flowering species.
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| 2. |
- Cousins, Sara A. O., et al.
(author)
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Detection of extinction debt depends on scale and specialisation
- 2011
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In: Biological Conservation. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-3207 .- 1873-2917. ; 144:2, s. 782-787
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Many plants can persist in landscapes for a long time after focal habitats have disappeared or become fragmented, which might contribute to an extinction debt. Delayed responses of plant occurrence have recently received great attention, particularly in conservation, although evidence for extinction debts is incongruent. Here we asked if we could detect an extinction debt for plant species after 100 years of fragmentation, depending on regional or local (gamma or alpha respectively) diversity measure used, and if all plant species or only habitat specialists were investigated. Historical and contemporary grassland patterns were analysed in 33 rural landscapes (each 1 km(2) in diameter) in south-eastern Sweden. Results show that managed semi-natural grassland had declined from 39% to 3% in 100 years. Diversity measured at regional scale was best explained by grassland extent 100 years ago, for both all species and grassland specialists. Present-day management, but neither present nor past grassland extent, was important for grassland specialists' occurrence at the local scale, although present-day grassland proportion had a positive influence on species richness at the local scale. We found evidence of an extinction debt at both local and regional scale when all species were included in the analysis, but not for grassland specialist species at the local scale. However, the extinction debt is still to be settled for grassland specialists at the regional scale, and therefore the estimation of extinction debts in fragmented habitats presents one of the greatest challenges for conservation today and in the future.
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| 7. |
- Vanhoenacker, Didrik, et al.
(author)
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Morph-specific selection on floral traits in a polymorphic plant
- 2010
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In: Journal of Evolutionary Biology. - : Wiley. - 1010-061X .- 1420-9101. ; 23:6, s. 1251-1260
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Correlations between phenotypic traits are common in many organisms, but the relative importance of nonadaptive mechanisms and selection for the evolution and maintenance of such correlations are poorly understood. In polymorphic species, morphs may evolve quantitative differences in additional characters as a result of morph-specific selection. The perennial rosette herb Primula farinosa is polymorphic for scape length. The short-scaped morph is less damaged by grazers and seed predators but is more strongly pollen limited than the long-scaped morph. We examined whether morph-specific differences in biotic interactions are associated with differences in selection on two other traits affecting floral display (number of flowers and petal size) and on one trait likely to affect pollination efficiency (corolla tube width) in three P. farinosa populations. Differences in selection between morphs were detected in one population. In this population, selection for more flowers and larger petals was stronger in the short-scaped than in the long-scaped morph, and although there was selection for narrower corolla tubes in the short-scaped morph, no statistically significant selection on corolla tube width could be detected in the long-scaped morph. In the study populations, the short-scaped morph produced more and larger flowers and wider corolla tubes. Current morph-specific selection was thus only partly consistent with trait differences between morphs. The results provide evidence of morph-specific selection on traits associated with floral display and pollination efficiency, respectively.
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| 8. |
- Vanhoenacker, Didrik, et al.
(author)
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Non-linear relationship between intensity of plant-animal interactions and selection strength
- 2013
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In: Ecology Letters. - : Wiley. - 1461-023X .- 1461-0248. ; 16:2, s. 198-205
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The shape of the relationship between intensity of biotic interactions and strength of selection is important for spatial variation in selection, but is little explored. We quantified interactions and selection in 69 populations of the short-lived herb Primula farinosa. As predicted because of saturation and depletion effects, the strength of selection on a discrete and on a continuously varying floral display trait were in several cases significantly non-linearly related to the mean intensity of mutualistic and antagonistic interactions. Strength of selection was strongest at low levels of fruit initiation and at high intensities of seed predation. Seed predation varied more among populations than did fruit initiation and could explain a larger proportion of the among-population variation in strength of selection. Our results support the contention that interaction intensity affects selection strength, and suggests that for mutualistic and antagonistic interactions that can be saturated or depleted, this relationship is sometimes non-linear.
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| 9. |
- Vanhoenacker, Didrik, 1971-
(author)
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Selection on floral traits in Primula farinosa
- 2008
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Flowers and inflorescences have evolved in relation to animals for at least 100 million years. Plants attract pollinators with large, conspicuous, bright-coloured or scented flowers. These display attributes, however, also attract herbivores. Optimal conspicuousness may therefore represent a trade-off between attractiveness to pollinators and vulnerability to herbivores. In a heterogenic landscape, the abundances of pollinators and herbivores vary, and this variation should cause the local net selection on floral traits to vary as well. This thesis investigates how pollinators and herbivores select for floral traits, how this selection is linked to interaction intensities, and what factors determine spatial variation in interaction intensity. I have studied the small perennial herb, Primula farinosa, and its interactions with pollinators, a seed predator moth, and grazers. The plant varies in several floral traits; most notably it displays a polymorphism in scape length. Results showed that pollinators selected for long scape, while the seed predator and grazers selected against long scape. Local net selection on scape length depended on interaction intensities of all three interactions. Scape morph also affected selection on number and size of flowers. We hypothesised that intensity of seed predation should depend on local population history of the specialised moth. However, the results from a 5-year survey suggests that patches were recolonized every year, and that the most important patch choice criteria were plant characteristics, such as mean inflorescence size and scape morph frequency. Within a geographic selection mosaic, local hot spots of plant evolution may not be random patches, but patches chosen by the agent of selection based on plant trait values. This thesis shows how spatial population ecology and herbivore dispersal behaviour are linked to mosaic interactions and trait evolution.
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