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"Plants - anatomy "
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Plant structures
\"Find out what plants are made of, how they grow, how they make their food, and how all the parts of a plant work together to help it survive. Read all about plants and then turn to the Figured Out! pages to discover more facts and easy-to-read statistics that bring the fascinating world of plants to life.\"--Amazon.com.
Book
The global spectrum of plant form and function
Earth is home to a remarkable diversity of plant forms and life histories, yet comparatively few essential trait combinations have proved evolutionarily viable in today’s terrestrial biosphere. By analysing worldwide variation in six major traits critical to growth, survival and reproduction within the largest sample of vascular plant species ever compiled, we found that occupancy of six-dimensional trait space is strongly concentrated, indicating coordination and trade-offs. Three-quarters of trait variation is captured in a two-dimensional global spectrum of plant form and function. One major dimension within this plane reflects the size of whole plants and their parts; the other represents the leaf economics spectrum, which balances leaf construction costs against growth potential. The global plant trait spectrum provides a backdrop for elucidating constraints on evolution, for functionally qualifying species and ecosystems, and for improving models that predict future vegetation based on continuous variation in plant form and function.
The authors found that the key elements of plant form and function, analysed at global scale, are largely concentrated into a two-dimensional plane indexed by the size of whole plants and organs on the one hand, and the construction costs for photosynthetic leaf area, on the other.
A simplified picture of plant diversity
Within the possible variety of forms that organisms can take, only a few will prove evolutionarily successful. Sandra Díaz
et al
. analyse a comprehensive database mapping worldwide variation in six traits critical to growth, survival and reproduction of vascular plants, and arrive at a detailed quantitative global picture of plant functional diversity. Despite enormous possible variation, the authors find that coordination among traits means that all plants can be positioned along just two axes of variation: one corresponds to overall plant form and the other is the previously characterized leaf economics spectrum. Also in this issue of
Nature
, Georges Kunstler
et al
., in a study of data from millions of trees worldwide, show that functional traits consistently predict the competitive interactions between tree species.
Journal Article
A closer look at plant classifications, parts, and uses
Discusses the characteristics of plants, describes how they are classified, and examines the parts of the plant.
Book
Machine Learning Approaches to Improve Three Basic Plant Phenotyping Tasks Using Three-Dimensional Point Clouds
Developing automated methods to efficiently process large volumes of point cloud data remains a challenge for three-dimensional (3D) plant phenotyping applications. Here, we describe the development of machine learning methods to tackle three primary challenges in plant phenotyping: lamina/stem classification, lamina counting, and stem skeletonization. For classification, we assessed and validated the accuracy of our methods on a dataset of 54 3D shoot architectures, representing multiple growth conditions and developmental time points for two Solanaceous species, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum cv 75 m82D) and Nicotiana benthamiana. Using deep learning, we classified lamina versus stems with 97.8% accuracy. Critically, we also demonstrated the robustness of our method to growth conditions and species that have not been trained on, which is important in practical applications but is often untested. For lamina counting, we developed an enhanced region-growing algorithm to reduce oversegmentation; this method achieved 86.6% accuracy, outperforming prior methods developed for this problem. Finally, for stem skeletonization, we developed an enhanced tip detection technique, which ran an order of magnitude faster and generated more precise skeleton architectures than prior methods. Overall, our improvements enable higher throughput and accurate extraction of phenotypic properties from 3D point cloud data.
Journal Article
How do leaf veins influence the worldwide leaf economic spectrum? Review and synthesis
Leaf vein traits are implicated in the determination of gas exchange rates and plant performance. These traits are increasingly considered as causal factors affecting the ‘leaf economic spectrum’ (LES), which includes the light-saturated rate of photosynthesis, dark respiration, foliar nitrogen concentration, leaf dry mass per area (LMA) and leaf longevity. This article reviews the support for two contrasting hypotheses regarding a key vein trait, vein length per unit leaf area (VLA). Recently, , proposed that vein traits, including VLA, can be described as the ‘origin’ of the LES by structurally determining LMA and leaf thickness, and thereby vein traits would predict LES traits according to specific equations. Careful re-examination of leaf anatomy, published datasets, and a newly compiled global database for diverse species did not support the ‘vein origin’ hypothesis, and moreover showed that the apparent power of those equations to predict LES traits arose from circularity. This review provides a ‘flux trait network’ hypothesis for the effects of vein traits on the LES and on plant performance, based on a synthesis of the previous literature. According to this hypothesis, VLA, while virtually independent of LMA, strongly influences hydraulic conductance, and thus stomatal conductance and photosynthetic rate. We also review (i) the specific physiological roles of VLA; (ii) the role of leaf major veins in influencing LES traits; and (iii) the role of VLA in determining photosynthetic rate per leaf dry mass and plant relative growth rate. A clear understanding of leaf vein traits provides a new perspective on plant function independently of the LES and can enhance the ability to explain and predict whole plant performance under dynamic conditions, with applications towards breeding improved crop varieties.
Journal Article
Aboveground and belowground sizes are aligned in the unified spectrum of plant form and function
Understanding the global variation of plant strategies is essential for unravelling eco-evolutionary processes and ecosystem functions. Variation in ten fundamental aboveground and fine-root traits is summarised in four dimensions, the first of which relates to aboveground plant size. However, there is no consensus about how root size fits within this scheme. Here, we add rooting depth and lateral spread, compiling a set of twelve key traits that define the fundamental investments of plants in growth, reproduction, and survival. We examine whether the inclusion of root size alters the dimensionality and structure of trait correlations defining plant functional strategies. Our results show that including root size traits does not alter the fundamental structure and dimensionality of the plant functional space, regardless of trait completeness and phylogenetic relatedness. Plant size defines a single continuum of allometric investments at the global scale, independent from leaf and root economic strategies.
Plants show diverse strategies for growth, reproduction, and survival, shaped by key aboveground and root traits. This study finds that adding root size traits does not change the global structure of plant strategies, confirming that plant size follows a unified continuum of allometric investment.
Journal Article
All about flowers
Introduces children to flowers, what flowers are, and why they are important.
Book
Genes and networks regulating root anatomy and architecture
The root is an excellent model for studying developmental processes that underlie plant anatomy and architecture. Its modular structure, the lack of cell movement and relative accessibility to microscopic visualization facilitate research in a number of areas of plant biology. In this review, we describe several examples that demonstrate how cell type-specific developmental mechanisms determine cell fate and the formation of defined tissues with unique characteristics. In the last 10 yr, advances in genome-wide technologies have led to the sequencing of thousands of plant genomes, transcriptomes and proteomes. In parallel with the development of these high-throughput technologies, biologists have had to establish computational, statistical and bioinformatic tools that can deal with the wealth of data generated by them. These resources provide a foundation for posing more complex questions about molecular interactions, and have led to the discovery of new mechanisms that control phenotypic differences. Here we review several recent studies that shed new light on developmental processes, which are involved in establishing root anatomy and architecture. We highlight the power of combining large-scale experiments with classical techniques to uncover new pathways in root development.
Journal Article