Ecological and evolutionary consequences of phenotypic plasticity in plants


Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research,

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Fall 2005-6, Tuesdays 14:00-18:00, Classroom 1, Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies.

For more details please contact Dr. Ariel Novoplansky
Office: 6596820, Fax: 6596821



Last updated Dec. 25, 2005. RELOAD to see the latest version!


Course outline
 

Main topics

Selected readings on lecture topics

Duties and grade components

E-mail

Discussions

 

Readings for next session

The Sede-Boker plasticity workshop

BGU CR-ROM bank

 

Main topics

1. What is phenotypic plasticity.
2. Signal perception and information processing by plants.
3. Plant morphogenetical controls and their ecological implications.
4. Plant foraging: strategies and mechanisms.
5. Phenotypic plasticity and the organization of populations and communities.
6. Costs and limits of phenotypic plasticity.
7. Phenotypic plasticity and evolution: consequences and implications.
8. On the differences between plants and animals.

Course duties and grade components

1. Active participation (rather than mere presence...) in classes and discussions (30%).
2. Coordination of a discussion on a selected topic (20%).
3. A review paper or a research proposal (50%).

Preliminary list of discussion  topics: please choose one of the following topics or suggest another topic by the next meeting (Tues., Nov 8, 2005, 14:00, classroom 1).

1.   Inducible defenses in plants

2.   Plant foraging and division of labor in plants
3.   Root communication and self/nonself discrimination

4.   The controversy over plasticity genes

5.   Consequences of plasticity for plant competition

6.   Phenotypic plasticity and behavior

7.   Maternal effects

8.   Phenotypic integration in plants

9.   Plasticity and ontogeny
10. Evaluation of adaptability of plasticity

 

Readings for the next session; Ram's discussion (Dec 27, 2005):

 

Reesen et al. 2000

 

Discussion questions:

 

- How does plasticity affect disease spread models?

- How does plasticity affect any density-dependent mechanisms?

- Insects can change external morphology only during

- What are the adaptive implications of molting? What is the relevance of molting to plasticity?

 

 

Previous readings:

 

Shlichting and Pigliucci 1998, selected pages from ch. 3: p 51-59, p. 66 (genetic perspective…-71).

 

In depth, for Meirav only:

 

Pigliucci 2001, ch. 2.

 

Aphalo, PJ & Ballare, CL (1995) On the importance of information-acquiring systems in plant-plant interactions, Functional Ecology 9: 5-14.

 

 


Selected readings

Aphalo, PJ & Ballare, CL (1995) On the importance of information-acquiring systems in plant-plant interactions, Functional Ecology 9: 5-14.

Crick, JC & Grime, JP (1987) Morphological plasticity and mineral nutrient capture in two herbaceous species of contrasted ecology, New Phytologist 107: 403-414.

DeWitt, TJ, Sih, A & Wilson, DS (1998) Costs and limits of phenotypic plasticity, TREE 13: 77-81.

Goldberg, DE & Novoplansky, A (1997) On the relative importance of competition in unproductive environments, Journal of Ecology 85: 409-418.

Hutchings, MJ & de Kroon, H. (1994) Foraging in plants: the role of morphological plasticity in resource acquisition, Advances in Ecological Research 25: 159-238.

Novoplansky, A (2002) Developmental Plasticity in Plants, Special Issue, Evolutionary Ecology 16: 177-307.

Schlichting, CD and Smith, H (2002), Phenotypic plasticity: linking molecular mechanisms with evolutionary outcomes., Evol. Ecol 16: 189-211.

Givnish, TJ (2002) Ecological constrains on the evolution of plasticity in plants, Evol. Ecol. 16: 213-242.

Sachs, T (2002) Consequences of inherent developmental plasticity of organ and tissue relations, Evol. Ecol. 16: 243-265.

Diggle, PK (2002) A developmental morphologist's perspective on plasticity, Evol. Ecol. 16: 267-283.

Alpert, P and Simms, EL (2002) The relative advantage of plasticity and fixity in different environments: when is it good for a plant to adjust?, Evol. Ecol. 16: 285-297.

Grime, JP and Mackey, JML (2002) The role of plasticity in resource capture by plants, Evol. Ecol. 16: 299-307.

Novoplansky, A, Cohen, D. & Sachs, T. (1990) How Portulaca seedlings avoid their neighbors. Oecologia 82: 490-493.

Pigliucci, M. (2001) Phenotypic Plasticity: Beyond Nature and Nurture, John Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-6788-6.

Sachs, T. (1991) Pattern Formation in Plant Tissues. Cambridge.
ISBN 0-521-24865-5

Sachs, T. and A. Novoplansky (1997) What does aclonal organization
 suggest concerning clonal plants? in de Kroon, H. and J. van Groenendael
 (eds.) The Ecology and Evolution of Clonal Growth in Plants, pp. 55-78, SPB Academic Publishing, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Sachs, T. (1988) Epigenetic selection: An alternative mechanism of pattern formation. Journal of Theoretical Biology 134: 547-560.

Schenk, HJ, Callaway, RM & Mahall, BE (1999) Spatial root segregation: are plants territorial? Advances in Ecological Research Vol. 28, In Press.

Schlichting, CD & Pigliucci, M (1993) Control of phenotypic plasticity via regulatory genes, American Naturalist 142: 366-70.

Schlichting, CD & Pigliucci, M (1998) Phenotypic Evolution, A reaction Norm Perspective. Sinauer. ISBN 0-87893-799-4

Schmitt, J., McCormac, AC & Smith, H. (1995) A test of the adaptive plasticity hypothesis using trangenic and mutant plants disabled in phytochrome-mediated elongation responses to neighbors. American Naturalist 146: 937-53.

Via, S (1993) Adaptive phenotypic plasticity: target of by-product of selection in a variable environment? American Naturalist 142: 352-65.

West-Eberhand, M. J. (2003) Developmental Plasticity and Evolution, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-512235-6.


Mail

Sam, Meirav, Ram, Reut, Ariel