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Morphological variation of two taxonomically distant plant species along a natural flow velocity gradient
Author(s) -
Puijalon Sara,
Bornette Gudrun
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2004.01135.x
Subject(s) - biology , trait , gene flow , morphology (biology) , botany , ecology , zoology , genetic variation , gene , biochemistry , computer science , programming language
Summary• The similarity of morphological plastic response to physical stress has been poorly tested among distant plant taxons as yet. • The effect of flow stress was compared for two species – Berula erecta and Mentha aquatica – through 14 morphological traits measured for five sets of 30 individuals in five patches organised along a natural velocity gradient. Size‐dependent and size‐corrected traits were analysed by single correlations and multivariate analyses. • B. erecta exhibited the expected pattern, that is a sharp decrease of all but one size‐dependent trait as velocity increased. Five and four size‐corrected traits were correlated with velocity, for B. erecta and M. aquatica , respectively, but three of them showed an opposite trend for the two species. Within‐patch trait variability, as hypothesized, tended to decrease with velocity for B. erecta . • The two species exhibited partly opposite responses despite the involvement of common traits. Small size allowed B. erecta to escape flow stress, whereas M. aquatica acquired a more streamlined morphology. The adaptive value of these morphological adjustments should be assessed through drag measurements.