Comparative approach in evolutionary ecology of plants
2015
Document Type:
Conference object (Published version)
,
© 2015 by the Serbian Plant Physiology Society
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract:
Some of the most common experimental approaches in studies of plant ecology and evolution include
common garden experiments, experimental manipulations, selection experiments, transplant-replant designs as well as comparative approach. Comparative approach involves studies on different taxa which are either related phylogenetically or share similar ecological niches and provide way for addressing questions about common patterns of evolutionary change and testing hypotheses about evolution. Comparative approach is therefore also used in evolutionary ecology and ecological genetic studies of phenotypic plasticity. Plasticity represents the ability of a single genotype to produce different phenotypes under different environmental conditions and can be an important way in which plants can adapt to environmental heterogeneity. Because plastic traits tend to be highly variable within as well as across species, studies are often conducted at various taxonomic levels - species but also subspecies, populations or ecotypes. This approach allowed our team working on evolutionary ecology and ecological genetics of plants in Department of Evolutionary Biology at the Institute for Biological Research to compare differences in plasticity of species of two genera - Lamium and Iris. Findings of those studies can be used to demonstrate some advantages of comparative approach in studies of plant ecology and evolution.
Keywords:
comparative analysis; Iris; Lamium; phenotypic plasticityFunding / projects:
- Evolution in Heterogeneous Environments: Adaptation Mechanisms, Biomonitoring and Conservation of Biodiversity (RS-MESTD-Basic Research (BR or ON)-173025)
In:
- Uzelac B, editor. Book of Abstracts: 2nd International Conference on Plant Biology, 21th Symposium of the Serbian Plant Physiology Society, and CОST Action FA1106 Quality Fruit Workshop; 2015 Jun 17-20; Petnica, Serbia. Belgrade: Serbian Plant Physiology Society: Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković”; 2015. p. 129-30.