Howard Cody Coyotee, Cellinese Nico
Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida Gainesville Florida.
Department of Biology University of Florida Gainesville Florida.
Ecol Evol. 2020 Feb 27;10(5):2299-2309. doi: 10.1002/ece3.5996. eCollection 2020 Mar.
Plant bulbs are modified shoot systems comprised of short internodes with apical bud(s) surrounded by layers of leaf bases. Bulb diameters can vary greatly, with overall bulb size playing a role in flower formation and resource allocation. Despite the importance of bulb size to the overall fitness of an individual, evolutionary and ecological aspects of this trait have been almost completely neglected. Examining over 2,500 herbarium vouchers for 115 selected species, we analyzed monocot tunicate bulb size within a phylogenetic context in order to investigate its evolutionary significance. We recorded two bulb diameter optima and observed that as bulb size increases taxa inhabit warmer areas with less temperature seasonality. Furthermore, we found that hysteranthous taxa, a habit where leaves emerge separately from flowers, exhibit overall larger bulbs potentially due to reliance upon belowground stored resources to flower rather than on current environmental inputs. This work highlights the importance of including the belowground portion of plants into ecological and evolutionary studies in order to gain a more complete understanding of the evolution of plant forms and functions.
植物鳞茎是经过修饰的芽系统，由短节间和被叶基部层层包围的顶芽组成。鳞茎直径差异很大，整个鳞茎大小在花的形成和资源分配中起作用。尽管鳞茎大小对个体的整体适应性很重要，但这一性状的进化和生态方面几乎完全被忽视了。通过检查115个选定物种的2500多份植物标本凭证，我们在系统发育背景下分析了单子叶有皮鳞茎的大小，以研究其进化意义。我们记录到两个鳞茎直径最适值，并观察到随着鳞茎大小的增加，分类群栖息在温度季节性较小的温暖地区。此外，我们发现叶后开花类群（一种叶子与花分开出现的习性）的鳞茎总体上更大，这可能是由于它们依赖地下储存的资源来开花，而不是依赖当前的环境输入。这项工作强调了将植物地下部分纳入生态和进化研究的重要性，以便更全面地了解植物形态和功能的进化。
