|
|
Phenotypic plasticity and its role in plant invasions
Hlavička, Matěj ; Herben, Tomáš (advisor) ; Skálová, Hana (referee)
Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of given genotype to produce different phenotypes as a response to environmental cues. Its capability of adaptive response draws an attention of invasion biologists. Although many studies have been performed, the true role of plasticity in an invasion process is still unclear. Comparative experiments suffer from several major constraints - insufficiency in revealing adaptive value of plastic response and uncertain linkage between plasticity and trait value. Further experiments could be focused to reaction norms of fitness instead of trait plasticity. Also, the interspecific interaction of plastic responses is definitely an underestimated mechanism and deserves far more attention than it does today. Possible implications of plant phenotypic plasticity in predicting future invasions require further reaserch.
|
|
|
Integration of clonal plants in heterogeneous environment
Vinšová, Jana ; Weiser, Martin (advisor) ; Macek, Petr (referee)
Clonal plants may be able to cope with spatial and temporal heterogeneity due to the physiological integration of ramets. To begin with, I discuss basic characteristics of clonal plants and then I provide a review of theoretical and empirical work dealing with the advantages and disadvantages of clonal growth in heterogenous conditions. Three main traits - translocation of resources, division of labour and foraging - are examined in terms of their contribution to the success of clonal plants. Despite a large amount of attention which this topic has received in the past few decades, a number of issues still remain unclear.
|
|
|
Phenotypic plasticity and its role in plant invasions
Hlavička, Matěj ; Herben, Tomáš (advisor) ; Skálová, Hana (referee)
Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of given genotype to produce different phenotypes as a response to environmental cues. Its capability of adaptive response draws an attention of invasion biologists. Although many studies have been performed, the true role of plasticity in an invasion process is still unclear. Comparative experiments suffer from several major constraints - insufficiency in revealing adaptive value of plastic response and uncertain linkage between plasticity and trait value. Further experiments could be focused to reaction norms of fitness instead of trait plasticity. Also, the interspecific interaction of plastic responses is definitely an underestimated mechanism and deserves far more attention than it does today. Possible implications of plant phenotypic plasticity in predicting future invasions require further reaserch.
|
|
|
Integration of clonal plants in heterogeneous environment
Vinšová, Jana ; Weiser, Martin (advisor) ; Macek, Petr (referee)
Clonal plants may be able to cope with spatial and temporal heterogeneity due to the physiological integration of ramets. To begin with, I discuss basic characteristics of clonal plants and then I provide a review of theoretical and empirical work dealing with the advantages and disadvantages of clonal growth in heterogenous conditions. Three main traits - translocation of resources, division of labour and foraging - are examined in terms of their contribution to the success of clonal plants. Despite a large amount of attention which this topic has received in the past few decades, a number of issues still remain unclear.
|
guest ::
