Floral morphs of a heterostylous grassland herb differ in responses to grassland fragmentation and environmental pressures

Clicks: 1
ID: 320696
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal

Ranked #186 of 190 articles by views in Annals of botany

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 190 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Semi-natural grasslands represent biodiversity hotspots but face increasing threats from habitat fragmentation, land-use intensification, and climate change, which disrupt ecological interactions and reduce population viability. Species with heterostylous mating systems are particularly sensitive to these disturbances, as they depend on cross-pollination between floral morphs. Primula veris, a typical grassland heterostylous species with declining populations, has two floral morphs (S- and L-morph) and often exhibits skewed morph ratios in small and fragmented populations, suggesting potential differences between morphs in reproductive success, germination, or plant performance. Yet, such morph-specific differences remain poorly documented. METHODS: We conducted three complementary experiments assessing morph-specific variation in P. veris. We quantified seed production across 30 semi-natural grassland populations differing in size and habitat fragmentation, evaluated germination under controlled conditions using seeds from both S- and L-morph mothers, and tested plant performance of the resulting offspring under factorial combinations of competition, drought, and nutrient enrichment. KEY RESULTS: Seed production did not differ significantly between maternal morphs but was higher in fragmented habitats, potentially reflecting higher pollination efficiency associated with lower plant species richness and reduced reproductive interference. In contrast, germination rates were higher for seeds from S-morph mothers than for those from L-morphs, while population size and fragmentation had no effect. Under experimental stress, plant performance depended on interactions between morph, competition, and fertilization: S-morphs responded positively to fertilization and negatively to competition, with these effects acting independently of each other, whereas L-morphs benefited disproportionately from fertilization in the absence of competition but suffered more under competitive conditions when fertilized. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that germination success and stress responses differ among morphs, even when seed production appears similar, emphasizing the need to consider morph-specific ecology when predicting population persistence and morph frequency shifts in heterostylous species in fragmented grasslands.
Reference Key
openalex_W7168045414 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Anna Florianová, Tomáš Dostálek, Ha Do, Jan Plue, Tsipe Aavik, Hans Jacquemyn, Sabrina Träger, Zuzana Münzbergová
Journal Annals of botany
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/aob/mcag204
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcag204
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.