Amphicarpy

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Amphicarpy is a reproductive strategy that occurs with 13 plant families, [1] [2] expressed mostly in species with an annual life cycle. [3] It is characterized by production of two types of fruit, for different ecological roles. [4] [5] [6] [7] It is sometimes restricted to the situation where one fruit type is aerial and the other subterranean (hypogeous), [8] and similar to, but distinguished from, heterocarpy, which latter means a plant that carries two distinct types of fruit or seeds. [9] The word amphicarp is the contraction of the Greek words ἀμφί meaning "of both kinds" and καρπός meaning fruit. [6]

In a typical plant with amphicarpy, one fruit type is underground. These underground fruits usually develop from self-pollinating flowers. The fruits that develop from the aerial flowers may often be the result of cross-pollination. [10]

Plants use this strategy to increase the chance that their genetic material is passed on. It can be referred to as bet hedging in which an organism produces several different phenotypes. Seeds from the underground flowers have low genetic variability (due to their selfing), tend to be larger, and may germinate from within the tissues of the flower, so ensuring that the annual can remain at the site that was suitable to it in the preceding year. Seeds from aerial flowers usually have greater genetic variability, tend to be smaller, and may be spread further. This assists the colonization of new territory, but also helps the exchange of genetic material between populations. [11]

Worldwide, approximately 67 species exhibit amphicarpy, or 0.02% of the known species of flowering plants. [2] Most of these 67 species occur in often disturbed or very stressful circumstances. 31 of the 67 species known to exhibit amphicarpy are in the family Fabaceae . [2] In Israel, a country that harbors many disturbed habitats, with eight out of a total flora of twenty five hundred species, a much higher percentage of 0.32% is amphicarpic. [12] Species that use amphicarpy include Catananche lutea , Gymnarrhena micrantha and Polygala lewtonii . [11] [13] [14] Trifolium polymorphum is a perennial, that combines amphicarpy with vegetative reproduction through stolons. It grows in grasslands where its aerial flowers may not come into seed due to herbivores. [15]

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Pollinator Animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower

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Pollination Biological processes occurring in plants

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<i>Heliconia</i> Genus of plants

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Ovary (botany) Flowering plant reproductive part

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Flower Part of a plant

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants. The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs. Flowers may facilitate outcrossing resulting from cross-pollination or allow selfing when self-pollination occurs.

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Pollination syndrome

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<i>Catananche</i> Genus of flowering plants

Catananche is a genus of flowering plants in the dandelion family. It is native to dry meadows in the Mediterranean region.

Plant reproduction is the production of new offspring in plants, which can be accomplished by sexual or asexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction produces offspring by the fusion of gametes, resulting in offspring genetically different from either parent. Asexual reproduction produces new individuals without the fusion of gametes. The resulting clonal plants are genetically identical to the parent plant and each other, unless mutations occur.

Nectar robbing

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<i>Gymnarrhena</i> Genus of flowering plants

Gymnarrhena is a deviant genus of plants in the daisy family, with only one known species, Gymnarrhena micrantha. It is native to North Africa and the Middle East, as far east as Balochistan. Together with the very different Cavea tanguensis it constitutes the tribe Gymnarrheneae, and in the subfamily Gymnarrhenoideae.

<i>Polygala lewtonii</i> Species of flowering plant

Polygala lewtonii is a rare species of flowering plant in the milkwort family known by the common name Lewton's polygala, or Lewton's milkwort. It is endemic to Florida in the United States, where it is limited to the central ridge of the peninsula. There are about 49 occurrences of the plant remaining. Most occurrences contain very few plants. The species is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. This is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

Catananche lutea, is a woolly annual plant, assigned to the daisy family, with most leaves in a basal rosette, and some smaller leaves on the stems at the base of the branches. Seated horizontal flowerheads develop early on under the rosette leaves. Later, not or sparingly branching erect stems grow to 8–40 cm high, carrying solitary flowerheads at their tips with a papery involucre whitish to beige, reaching beyond the yellow ligulate florets. Flowers are present between April and June. This plant is unique for the five different types of seed it develops, few larger seeds from the basal flowerheads, which remain in the soil, and smaller seeds from the flowerheads above ground that may be spread by the wind or remain in the flowerhead when it breaks from the dead plant. This phenomenon is known as amphicarpy. The seeds germinate immediately, but in one type, germination is postponed. It naturally occurs around the Mediterranean. Sources in English sometimes refer to this species as yellow succory.

In ecology, functional equivalence is the ecological phenomena that multiple species representing a variety of taxonomic groups can share similar, if not identical, roles in ecosystem functionality. This phenomenon can apply to both plant and animal taxa. The idea was originally presented in 2005 by Stephen Hubbell, a plant ecologist at the University of Georgia. This idea has led to a new paradigm for species-level classification – organizing species into groups based on functional similarity rather than morphological or evolutionary history. In the natural world, several examples of functional equivalence among different taxa have emerged analogously.

References

  1. ↑ Cheplick, Gregory Paul (1987). "The ecology of amphicarpic plants". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 2 (4): 97–101. doi:10.1016/0169-5347(87)90166-2. PMID   21227828.
  2. 1 2 3 Zhang, Keliang; Baskin, Jerry M.; Baskin, Carol C.; Cheplick, Gregory P.; Yang, Xuejun; Huang, Zhenying (2020). "Amphicarpic plants: definition, ecology, geographic distribution, systematics, life history, evolution and use in agriculture". Biological Reviews. 95 (5): 1442–1466. doi: 10.1111/brv.12623 . ISSN   1469-185X. PMC   7540684 . PMID   32462729. S2CID   218975119.
  3. ↑ Greenwood, Paul J.; Harvey, Paul H.; Slatkin, Montgomery (1985). Evolution: Essays in Honour of John Maynard Smith. CUP Archive. p. 149. ISBN   9780521257343.
  4. ↑ Beentje, H. & Williamson, J. (2010), The Kew Plant Glossary: an Illustrated Dictionary of Plant Terms, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: Kew Publishing
  5. ↑ Hickey, M. & King, C. (2001), The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms, Cambridge University Press
  6. 1 2 "Amphicarpous". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2016-12-25.
  7. ↑ Swift, Joel F.; Smith, Stacy A.; Menges, Eric S.; Bassüner, Burgund; Edwards, Christine E. (2016-12-01). "Analysis of mating system and genetic structure in the endangered, amphicarpic plant, Lewton's polygala (Polygala lewtonii)". Conservation Genetics. 17 (6): 1269–1284. doi:10.1007/s10592-016-0860-3. ISSN   1566-0621. S2CID   41614461.
  8. ↑ Herwig Teppner (2003), "The Heterodiaspory of Capsella bursa-pastoris (Brassicaceae)", Phyton, 43 (2): 381–391
  9. ↑ Shmida, Avi (2005). MAPA's Dictionary of Plants and Flowers in Israel (in Hebrew). Tel-Aviv: MAPA. p. 439. OCLC   716569354., s.v. heterocarpy
  10. ↑ Weberling, Focko (1992). Morphology of Flowers and Inflorescences. CUP Archive. p. 345. ISBN   9780521438322.
  11. 1 2 Ruiz de Clavijo, E. (1995). "The Ecological Significance of Fruit Heteromorphism in the Amphicarpic Species Catananche lutea (Asteraceae)". International Journal of Plant Sciences. 156 (6): 824–833. doi:10.1086/297306. JSTOR   2475114.
  12. ↑ Funk, Vicki A.; Fragman-Sapir, Ori (2009). "22. Gymnarrheneae (Gymnarrhenoideae)" (PDF). In V.A. Funk; A. Susanna; T. Stuessy; R. Bayer (eds.). Systematics, Evolution, and Biogeography of Compositae. Vienna: International Association for Plant Taxonomy. pp. 327–332. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  13. ↑ Koller, Dov; Roth, Nurit (1964). "Studies on the Ecological and Physiological Significance of Amphicarpy in Gymnarrhena micrantha (Compositae)". American Journal of Botany. 51 (1): 26–35. doi:10.2307/2440059. JSTOR   2440059.
  14. ↑ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lewton's polygala (Polygala lewtonii), 5-Year Review: Summary and Evaluation (PDF), retrieved 2016-12-25
  15. ↑ Speroni, G.; Izaguirre, P.; Bernardello, G.; Franco, J. (2014). "Reproductive versatility in legumes: the case of amphicarpy in Trifolium polymorphum". Plant Biology. 16 (3): 690–6. doi:10.1111/plb.12113. PMID   24138122.
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