Plant Biosystems (PLANT BIOSYST)

Publications in this journal

• Article: Effect of Salinity on Callus culture of Acacia auriculiformis A.Cunn. Ex Benth and Optimization of PCR usable Robust DNA extraction protocols for RAPD Analysis

  Nagashree¬ B.R, B.R. Gurumurthy, H. S. Santosh kumar, Karaba N Nataraj, M.B Shivanna
  Plant Biosystems 05/2013;
• Article: Floral and vegetative morphometrics of three Platonia insignis Mart. (Clusiaceae) populations, a native tree from the Brazilian Amazon

  R. V. Carvalho Saraiva, P. M. Correia de Albuquerque, E. C. Girnos
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  ABSTRACT: Platonia insignis Mart. (Clusiaceae), the bacurizeiro, is a native tree species from the Brazilian Amazon forests. Three populations of P. insignis have been observed in the north-east region of the state of Maranha ̃o that differ in flower color: the red population that produces dark pink flowers, the pink population that produces light pink flowers, and the white population with yellowish-white flowers. From multivariate statistical analysis, we aimed at characterizing such populations using morpho-anatomical leaf and flower morphology parameters. A total of 40 P. insignis individuals have been sampled in the cities of Sa ̃o Lu ́ıs and Chapadinha. The morphological traits varied more than the anatomical traits. Area, fresh mass, and dry mass were the leaf parameters that show more variations. Platonia insignis have hypostomatic or amphihypostomatic leaves. The length of the gynoecium þ the length of the nectary, the total length and the length of gynoecium were the principal components considering flower analysis. The three populations did not show significant differences nor did they group using Ward’s method. Individuals from the Chapadinha and Sa ̃o Lu ́ıs red population have been separated according to leaf and flower morphological traits, and the morphological difference between individuals may represent early stages of geographical speciation.
  Plant Biosystems 05/2013;
• Article: Biochemical characterization of maize (Zea mays L.) for salt tolerance

  Iqbal Hussain, Muhammad Arslan Ashraf, Faiza Anwar, Rizwan Rasheed
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  ABSTRACT: The inherent differences for salt tolerance in two maize cultivars (Agatti -2002 and Sahiwal- 2002) were evaluated in pot experiments. Plants were grown in half strength of Hoagland nutrient solution added with 0, 80, 100, 120, 140 and 160 mM of NaCl. Salt stress markedly reduced the shoot and root lengths and fresh and dry masses. Reduction in growth attributes was more pronounced in cv. Agatti-2002 than cv. Sahiwal-2002. Both maize cultivars exhibited significant perturbations in important biochemical attributes being employed for screening the crops for salt tolerance. Cultivar Sahiwal-2002 was found salt tolerant as compared to cv.Agatti- 2002 because it exhibited lower levels of H2O2, MDA and higher activities of antioxidant enzymes. In addition, cultivar Sahiwal-2002 exhibited less salt-induced degradation of photosynthetic pigments, lower levels of toxic Na+ and Cl-, higher endogenous levels of K+ and K+/Na+ ratio. The results indicate that salt stress induced a marked increase in MDA, H2O2, relative membrane permeability (RMP), total soluble proteins (TSP), and activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD, CAT and APX). Moreover, increase in endogenous levels of Na+ and Cl-, and decrease in K+, K+/Na+ ratio and photosynthetic pigments were recorded in plants grown under salinity regimes.
  Plant Biosystems 04/2013;
• Article: Vegetation management with glyphosate has little impact on understory species diversity or tree growth in a sub boreal spruce plantation – A case study

  C. D. B. Hawkins, A. Dhar, J. Lange
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  ABSTRACT: In central British Columbia (BC), forest management practices have altered natural stand development pathways by controlling ‘‘non commercial’’ tree species and other competing species with the objective of maximizing crop tree growth. This potentially decreases overall diversity within the stand. We conducted a retrospective study on a 13-year-old stand to investigate the impacts of vegetation management with glyphosate on tree growth, species diversity and forest health in central BC. Results revealed that spruce was marginally taller than birch in the herbicide treated area and significantly shorter than birch in the untreated area. There was no difference in spruce diameter at breast height (DBH) and mean stem volume by treatment. White pine weevil attack was significantly reduced in the untreated area. In total, 133 plant species were recorded from 2002 to 2006, but 30% of the species present in 2002 were not present in 2006. Species’ richness and alpha diversity were similar between treatments but beta diversity was relatively low indicating little treatment effect. There was a greater occurrence and abundance of ‘‘weedy’’ and pioneer species in the herbicide-treated area. Overall, this study suggests that glyphosate application does not remove all birch and showed minimal or no impact on under-story vegetation. Therefore, a move away from broadcast vegetation control to spot control where warranted could result in better tree growth, improved forest health and structural diversity.
  Plant Biosystems 04/2013; 147(1):105-114.
• Article: Using the tree growth model MOSES to assess the dynamics of Dinaric old-growth mixed beech–fir forest ecosystems

  S. Mikac, M. Klopf, I.Anić, H.Hasenauer
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  ABSTRACT: The limiting factor in studying the dynamics of old-growth forests is the lack of long-term data. A model for general Dinaric old-growth beech–fir forest ecosystem dynamic has not yet been fully developed. Only general schemes, primarily developed for natural forests in Central Europe, have been used in the research of old-growth forest dynamics. One example of a model for simulating growth of uneven-aged mixed-species stands is called MOSES (modeling stand response). The results given by MOSES indicate general trends of the structure dynamics (stand density, volume, diameter of breast height (dbh) distribution, mortality and other) over time. Comparisons of the predicted and measured dbh distribution show very good prediction capability for all species on the plot, when the period of simulation is up to 50 years. Regarding our results, we can conclude that MOSES is a useful tool for analyzing the complexity of old-growth forest structure dynamics and the resulting predictions could easily be improved by including local data for model calibration to address species-specific regional effects.
  Plant Biosystems 03/2013;
• Article: Validation of some syntaxa of Italian vegetation

  Biondi E, Allegrezza M, Casavecchia S, Galdenzi D, Gigante D, Pesaresi S
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  ABSTRACT: In this paper, we validated some syntaxa,the published names of which were regarded as invalid on the basis of the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature (ICPN). The validations concern syntaxa of different hierarchical level, belonging to different phytosociological classes. Most validations regard syntaxa that are invalid with respect to Article 5 of the Code. Indeed, the nomenclatural types were not indicated in the correct form (typus, holotypus, lectotypus, neotypus).
  Plant Biosystems 02/2013;
• Article: MUNZI S, TRIGGIANI D, CECCARELLI D, CLIMATI E, TIEZZI A, LOPPI S . Antiproliferative activity of three lichen species belonging to the genus Peltigera. PLANT BIOSYSTEMS, ISSN: 1126-3504

  MUNZI S, TRIGGIANI D, CECCARELLI D, CLIMATI E, TIEZZI A, LOPPI S
  Plant Biosystems 02/2013;
• Article: Spatial-temporal variation of rhizosphere soil microbial abundance and enzyme activities under different vegetation types in the coastal zone, Shandong, China

  Zhang L, Song L, Shao HB, Shao Ch, Li M, Liu M, Brestic M, Xu G
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  ABSTRACT: In coastal sandy soils, the establ-ishment of a plant cover is fundamental to avoid degradation and desertification processes. A better understanding of the ability of plants to promote soil microbial process in these conditions is necessary for successful soil reclamation. The current study was to investigate the ability of four different plant species to regenerate the microbiological processes in the rhizosphere soil to discuss which species were the most effective for the reclamation of the coastal zone. The rhizosphere soils were studied by measuring microbial abundance (bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes and ammonifiers), enzyme activities (invertase, catalase, urease, and phosphatase) and their relationship. Microbial abundance greatly varied among rhizospheres of different plant species (P < 0.05). P. australis supported the highest amount of bacterial, actinomycetes and ammonifiers abundance, and E. crusgalli supported the highest fungi abundance. Additionally, the significant differences in rhizosphere enzyme activities of different plant species were also observed. There was a significant linear correlation between rhizosphere soil microbial abundances and enzyme activities between bacteria and urease and between fungi and catalase, but no such significant relationship was found between all rhizosphere soil microbial abundance and phosphatases. It was concluded that different plant species in coastal areas have different rhizosphere soils due to the impact of the different root exudates and plant residues of the microbial properties. In addition, natural grasslands (P. australis and E. crusgalli) are most effective for revegetating coastal sandy soils.
  Plant Biosystems 02/2013;
• Article: Can management intensity be more important thanenvironmental factors? A case study along an extremeelevation gradient from central Italian cereal fields

  R. W. Pal, G. Pinke, Z. Botta-Dukát, G. Campetella, S. Bartha, R. Kalocsai, A. Lengyel
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  ABSTRACT: This paper aims to assess the importance of environmental and management factors determining the weed species composition along a strong elevation gradient. A total of 76 cereal fields (39 low input and 37 intensively managed) were sampled along an elevation gradient in central Italy. Explanatory variables were recorded for each field to elucidate the role of large-scale spatial trends, of site-specific abiotic environmental conditions and of field management characters. Redundancy analysis was used to assess the relative importance of each environmental variable in explaining the variation in species composition. Our results indicate that variation in weed species composition is strongly determined by altitude, mean annual precipitation, mean annual temperature and also by soil characteristics. However, the level of intensification proved to be the most influential variable. There was a significant difference in species richness and composition between low-input and intensively managed fields. Intensification leads to considerable species loss at both lower and higher elevations. Low-input fields had 296 species in total, while intensively managed fields had only 196.
  Plant Biosystems 02/2013; iFirst article:1-11.