Ecophysiological traits of grasses: resolving the effects of photosynthetic pathway and phylogeny
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- University of Sheffield, UK
- Rhodes University, Republic of South Africa
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- Document Type:
- Poster
- Date:
- Received 03 November 2009 17:22 UTC; Posted 04 November 2009
- Subjects:
- Ecology
- Abstract:
C4 photosynthesis is an important example of convergent evolution in plants, having arisen in eudicots, monocots and diatoms. Comparisons between such diverse groups are confounded by phylogenetic and ecological differences, so that only broad generalisations can be made about the role of C4 photosynthesis in
determining ecophysiological traits. However, 60% of C4 species occur in the grasses (Poaceae) and molecular phylogenetic techniques confirm that there are between 8 and 17 independent origins of C4 photosynthesis in the Poaceae. In a screening experiment, we compared leaf physiology and growth traits across several major
independent C3 & C4 groups within the Poaceae, asking 1) which traits differ consistently between photosynthetic
types and 2) which traits differ consistently between clades within each photosynthetic type.- Presented at:
- 2009 Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America RSS, 07 August 2009
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- This document is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
- How to cite this document:
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Taylor, Samuel, Rees, Mark, Hulme, Stephen, Freckleton, Rob, Ripley, Brad, Woodward, F., and Osborne, Colin. Ecophysiological traits of grasses: resolving the effects of photosynthetic pathway and phylogeny. Available from Nature Precedings <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2009.3937.1> (2009)
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