Padgett Trevor, Su Huei-Jiun, Wu Shu-Hui, Huang Li-Yen, Lin Yiching
International Graduate Degree Program for Biodiversity Tunghai University Taichung Taiwan.
Taiwan International Graduate Program, Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica Taipei Taiwan.
Ecol Evol. 2025 Jan 11;15(1):e70746. doi: 10.1002/ece3.70746. eCollection 2025 Jan.
Parasitic plants are a diverse and unique polyphyletic assemblage of flowering plants that survive by obtaining resources via direct vascular connections to a host plant. Ecologically important in their native ecosystems, these typically cryptic plants remain understudied and fundamental knowledge of the biology, ecology, and evolution of most species is lacking. This gap limits our understanding of ecosystems and conservation management. We established a multistep protocol to conduct the first investigation of the reproductive life history of root parasite genus , testing the hypotheses of perenniality, cryptic perenniality, and plasticity across five geographically isolated populations in Taiwan. A review of 123 publications found contradictory determinations, including no determination (87%), perennial (9%), annual (1%), biennial (1%), or a combination (2%). No primary study investigated the question, and no determination was accompanied by reference. Between 2021 and 2024, we tested a hypothesis of perenniality (109 individuals, 135 patches) and cryptic perenniality (73 host samples), monitored population dynamics (whole population), and potential for endophytic/dormant haustorial tissue (101 roots) across five isolated populations of ssp. in Taiwan. Our results support semelparous annuality. After reproduction, individuals senesce and die, and the following year's population is recruited from newly germinated individuals which together develop in size and number during a vegetative growth period, undergo reproduction, and then themselves senesce and die. Each cycle is completed within a 12-month period. Synthesis: Our study provides the first quantitative determination of a semelparous annual reproductive life-history strategy for any species of . This determination is important in our progress toward better understanding the species-and parasitic plants in general-as well as ecological roles within ecosystems and conservation management. Our study further provides a template for future work to expand life-history strategy determination across cryptic root parasitic plants.
寄生植物是开花植物中一个多样且独特的多系类群，它们通过与寄主植物建立直接的维管连接来获取资源以维持生存。这些植物在其原生生态系统中具有重要的生态意义，但通常较为隐秘，研究较少，大多数物种的生物学、生态学和进化的基础知识仍很缺乏。这一差距限制了我们对生态系统的理解以及保护管理工作。我们制定了一个多步骤方案，对根寄生植物属的生殖生活史进行首次调查，在台湾五个地理隔离的种群中检验多年生、隐多年生和可塑性的假设。对123篇出版物的综述发现了相互矛盾的判定结果，包括未判定（87%）、多年生（9%）、一年生（1%）、二年生（1%）或多种情况组合（2%）。没有初步研究探讨过这个问题，且没有任何判定结果有参考文献支持。在2021年至2024年期间，我们对多年生假设（109个个体，135个斑块）和隐多年生假设（73个寄主样本）进行了测试，监测了种群动态（整个种群）以及台湾ssp. 五个隔离种群中内生/休眠吸器组织的潜力（101条根）。我们的结果支持单次结实一年生。繁殖后，个体衰老死亡，次年的种群由新萌发的个体组成，这些个体在营养生长期一起生长，数量增加，进行繁殖，然后自身衰老死亡。每个周期在12个月内完成。综述：我们的研究首次对该属任何物种的单次结实一年生生殖生活史策略进行了定量判定。这一判定对于我们更好地理解该物种以及一般寄生植物、它们在生态系统中的生态作用以及保护管理具有重要意义。我们的研究还为未来扩展对隐秘根寄生植物生活史策略判定的工作提供了一个模板。
