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Annals of Botany
@annbot.bsky.social
4.9K followers 1.3K following 2.1K posts
International journal publishing novel and rigorous research in all areas of plant science, managed by the Annals of Botany Company, a not-for-profit educational charity.
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Across both species, one pattern was clear: earlier germination = bigger plants (and more seeds for J. bufonius). Anything that delayed emergence ultimately reduced performance. (8/10)
Figure with four panels showing how germination time (A, B) and treatment (C, D) affected the above-ground growth of Juncus bufonius (A, C) and Eleocharis palustris (B, D). Treatments with added bird droppings (CF and IF) are shown in pink, and treatments where seeds passed through a bird’s gut (IF and INF) are shown with dashed lines. In panels A and B, the lines show the statistical models describing how plant mass changed with germination time, with pink and green dots marking plants grown with and without droppings. In panels C and D, each box shows how plant mass values are distributed: the middle line is the median, the box contains the middle 50% of values, and the whiskers show the main range of the data. Dots beyond the whiskers represent unusually small or large plants (outliers). Abbreviations: CF = control with droppings; CNF = control without droppings; IF = ingested seeds with droppings; INF = ingested seeds without droppings
November 25, 2025 at 12:10 PM
annbot.bsky.social
Interestingly, J. bufonius germinated faster inside faeces, but this delay in establishment pushed it to invest more in reproduction later, producing more seeds per unit biomass. (7/10)
Figure with two panels showing how bird droppings and gut passage affected seed production in Juncus bufonius. (A) Relationship between plant size (above-ground mass) and the number of seeds produced, for plants grown with and without added bird droppings. The lines show how seed production increases with plant size in each case, along with statistical tests comparing the two relationships. (B) Number of seeds produced per plant under each treatment. Each box shows how seed production values are distributed: the middle line is the median, the box contains the middle 50% of values, the whiskers show the typical range, and dots beyond the whiskers represent unusually low or high seed counts.
November 25, 2025 at 12:10 PM
annbot.bsky.social
But the faecal matrix itself often held plants back.
❌ Slower germination in E. palustris
❌ Reduced germination, growth and biomass in both species
❌ Lower total seed production in J. bufonius (6/10)
Figure with two panels showing time it took for seeds of Juncus bufonius (A) and Eleocharis palustris (B) to germinate under each treatment. Treatments with added bird droppings are shown in pink, and treatments where seeds passed through a bird’s gut are shown with dashed lines. Each box shows how the germination times are spread out: the middle line is the median, the box edges show the middle 50% of values, and the whiskers extend to the range of most data points. Dots outside the whiskers represent unusually early or late germination (outliers). Treatments marked with different letters differ significantly in J. bufonius. In E. palustris, bird droppings had a significant influence on how quickly seeds germinated. Treatment abbreviations: CF = control with droppings; CNF = control without droppings; IF = ingested seeds with droppings; INF = ingested seeds without droppings.
November 25, 2025 at 12:10 PM
annbot.bsky.social
The results? A complex interplay between gut passage and the faecal matrix.
Gut passage alone wasn’t harmful, sometimes it even helped.
✔️ It sped up germination for J. bufonius (when no faeces were present).
✔️ It increased the final height of E. palustris. (5/10)
Figure with two panels showing seed germination of Juncus bufonius (A) and Eleocharis palustris (B) under different treatments. Each bar shows the average germination rate (± standard error). Treatments with added bird droppings are shown in pink, and treatments where seeds passed through a bird’s gut are shown with dashed lines. The four treatments are: control with droppings (CF), control without droppings (CNF), ingested seeds with droppings (IF), and ingested seeds without droppings (INF). Bird droppings significantly boosted germination in both species, while gut passage alone did not.
November 25, 2025 at 12:10 PM
annbot.bsky.social
Researchers worked with two species dispersed by European waterbirds:
🌱 Juncus bufonius (annual mudflat plant)
🌱 Eleocharis palustris (perennial aquatic plant) (3/10)
Juncus bufonius (left panel) and Eleocharis palustris (right panel). Credits: Wikimedia commons.
November 25, 2025 at 12:10 PM
annbot.bsky.social
🌱Check the newly published article ‘Better out than in: faecal matrix inhibits establishment success after waterfowl endozoochory’ in @annbot.bsky.social by @iciarjimenez.bsky.social and co-authors🧵1/10

👉 doi.org/qfrv

@drandygreen.bsky.social
#PlantDispersal #SeedEcology #Endozoochory #AoBpapers
Better out than in: faecal matrix inhibits establishment success after waterfowl endozoochory
November 25, 2025 at 12:10 PM
annbot.bsky.social
What about genome changes? Despite the striking ecological divergence, both forms had the same genome size and chromosome number. No evidence of polyploidy driving the shift. (6/7)
Figure with four panels showing genome size and chromosome number of Caryocar brasiliense. (A) Representative histogram of an arboreal individual from core Cerrado. (B) Representative histogram of a dwarf individual from southernmost Cerrado. (C) Overlay of histograms A (arboreal form) and B (dwarf form). (D) Metaphase I showing the 23 chromosome pairs indicated by numbers. Bar indicates 10μm. Graphs from A to C show the fluorescence emitted by the samples (x-axis) and the number of events detected in each fluorescence (yaxis). Although genetic factors may contribute to pollinator shifts, ploidy level and genome size do not differ between arboreal and dwarf forms.
November 20, 2025 at 9:17 PM
annbot.bsky.social
Field observations confirmed the shift:
🐝 Bee visitation was >50× higher than bat visitation.
Higher nectar sugar content = more bees.
And diurnal visitors, especially large bees, significantly boosted fruit and seed set. (5/7)
Figure showing bee activity on flowers of the dwarf form of Caryocar brasiliense throughout the day. Bee visits per hour. Visits were grouped according to bee sizes: large- (black), medium- (brown) and small-bodied (light blue) bees.
November 20, 2025 at 9:17 PM
annbot.bsky.social
The dwarf form shows a suite of traits aligned with bee pollination:
• smaller flowers
• anthesis later at night, extending into early morning
• nectar peaking at dawn
• sucrose-enriched, hexose-dominant nectar (4/7)
Figure showing floral attributes of the arboreal and dwarf forms of Caryocar brasiliense. Floral size of the dwarf (green) and arboreal (purplish) forms.
November 20, 2025 at 9:17 PM
annbot.bsky.social
Researchers compared key floral traits between the tree and dwarf forms:
🌼 flower size
⏰ anthesis timing
💧 nectar production
🧪 nectar chemical composition
They also ran pollinator exclusion experiments and measured genome size and chromosome number. (3/7)
Figure showing the geographic locations of the study sites. Botucatu – SP in the southernmost region of Cerrado, where Caryocar brasiliense present the hemicrytophytic and dwarf life form (green circle); Caldas Novas - GO and Uberlândia - MG, areas in the core region of the Brazilian Cerrado, where C. brasiliense present the typical arboreal forms (purplish diamonds). The polygon in beige represents the distribution of the Cerrado (the Neotropical savanna of Brazil), where C. brasiliense occurs throughout its entire range. Due to the large geographic range of the Cerrado, climatic differences and variation in fire and frost regimes are expected. The municipality of Botucatu, located at higher elevation, frequently experiences both fire and frost events. Colder temperatures with frequent frosts are conditions less common in the core region of the Cerrado, where mean annual temperatures are higher.
November 20, 2025 at 9:17 PM
annbot.bsky.social
In most of the Brazilian Cerrado, C. brasiliense is a classic bat-pollinated tree. But in a southern population, near the edge of the species’ range, a dwarf hemicryptophyte form appears, visited mainly by large-bodied bees. Are these distinct pollination ecotypes? (2/7)
Figure showing plant morphology and main pollinators of the arboreal and dwarf forms of Caryocar brasiliense. (A) The typical arboreal (phanerophytic) life form of Caryocar brasiliense. This tree is approximately 13 m tall. The white arrow points to a person (1.73 m tall) standing next to the tree for scale. (B) A 30 cm tall dwarf plant in bloom. Note the 20 cm long GPS device placed next to the plant. (C) Newly produced sprouts of a dwarf plant a few weeks after a fire event. Arrows indicate old burned branches, and arrowheads point to flower buds at early developmental stages. Note that both the new sprouts and the old burned branches emerge from the ground, revealing the hemicryptophytic life form of this ecotype, in which the main trunk is entirely underground. (C) The Pallas's long-tongued bat (Glossophaga soricina) visiting a C. brasiliense tree in Central Brazil. (Photo: ChristianoPeres Coelho and Paulo E. Oliveira). (E) A large-bodied bee (Xylocopa sp.) visiting flowers.
November 20, 2025 at 9:17 PM
annbot.bsky.social
🎉 Great news! The paper ‘From bats to bees: changes in flower anthesis and nectar traits drive a pollination ecotype in dwarf Caryocar brasiliense (Caryocaraceae)’ in @annbot.bsky.social by Caio Ballarin and co-authors is now #free for 2 weeks 🧵(1/7)

👉 doi.org/qfdp
#AoBpapers
From bats to bees: changes in flower anthesis and nectar traits drive a pollination ecotype in dwarf Caryocar brasiliense (Caryocaraceae)
November 20, 2025 at 9:17 PM
annbot.bsky.social
✂️ Simulated herbivory:
• Damage to flowers and stems reduced only floral traits.
• Simulated leaf damage decreased pollinator attraction.
This contrasts with earlier syntheses that suggested simulated herbivory had no effect. (7/9)
Figure showing the average effects of herbivory on floral traits, pollinator visits, and plant reproduction, separated by the plant tissue that was damaged (roots, leaves, flowers, stems or multiple tissues) and whether the damage was natural or simulated. Each point shows the estimated impact, with bars indicating the range of values we are 95% confident about. The number of studies included in each estimate appears below the bars. Black points represent natural herbivory, and white points represent simulated damage. The dashed vertical line marks ‘no effect’. Results whose bars do not cross this line show a meaningful difference between damaged and undamaged plants.
November 18, 2025 at 12:12 PM
annbot.bsky.social
🌿 Natural herbivory:
• Damage to leaves or flowers usually reduces floral traits, visitation and reproduction.
• Exception: natural flower damage did not reduce floral traits.
• Root and mixed damage showed no significant effects (6/9)
Locust. Canva.
November 18, 2025 at 12:12 PM
annbot.bsky.social
💥 Main result: Herbivory reduces floral display, pollinator attraction and plant reproductive output. But the magnitude of these effects depends on what part of the plant is damaged and how the damage occurs. (5/9)
Figure showing the average effects of herbivory on floral traits, pollinator visits, and plant reproduction. Each point shows the estimated impact, and the bars indicate the range of values we are 95% confident about. The number of studies contributing to each estimate is shown above the bars. The dashed vertical line marks ‘no effect’. Values whose bars do not touch this line show a meaningful difference between undamaged and herbivore-damaged plants.
November 18, 2025 at 12:12 PM
annbot.bsky.social
This new synthesis updates the last major meta-analysis by adding studies published between 2018–2023. The dataset jumps from 88 to 171 studies, and from 568 to 1348 observations. (3/9)
Monarch butterfly caterpillar. Canva
November 18, 2025 at 12:12 PM
annbot.bsky.social
🐛🐝Plants interact with both herbivores and pollinators, and these two consumer groups directly or indirectly (plant-mediated) influence each other. Understanding those links is key to predicting plant reproductive success. (2/9)
Pollinator. Canva.
November 18, 2025 at 12:12 PM
annbot.bsky.social
🌿 Join us to learn about the newly published review ‘The effect of herbivory on pollinators: a revisited meta-analysis’ in @annbot.bsky.social by Stephanie Haas-Desmarais and co-authors. 🧵(1/9)

👉 doi.org/qd2p

@xmoreira.bsky.social

#FloralBiology #PollinationEcology #Plantscience #AoBpapers
The effect of herbivory on pollinators: a revisited meta-analysis
November 18, 2025 at 12:12 PM
annbot.bsky.social
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Green banner inviting users to join the Annals of Botany newsletter. Includes a QR code, a link (https://botany.fyi/join-aob), floral illustrations on both sides, and the Annals of Botany logo at the bottom.
November 17, 2025 at 12:18 PM
annbot.bsky.social
These shifts in timing and resource allocation likely evolved as responses to seasonal pressures, adjusting reproduction to local climates. (7/8)
Figure showing daily climate patterns across the natural range of each species. These graphs show 10 years of satellite data, including average daily temperature (left axis) and the amount of water available in the soil (right axis). A period was considered too cold for growth when the average temperature stayed below 3 °C. A ‘favourable’ phase began only when temperatures rose above this threshold for at least 10 days in a row. Water limitation was defined as days when soil moisture dropped below 15%. Using these temperature and moisture limits, we identified the favourable and unfavourable seasons (shaded areas). Araucaria araucana experienced a clear unfavourable period because of low temperatures, while the other species did not show any unfavourable seasons under these criteria.
November 14, 2025 at 1:58 PM
annbot.bsky.social
🌲💤Cone growth also follows a unique pattern: while A. angustifolia delays growth until after fertilization, A. araucana starts early but pauses during winter, conserving energy when conditions are harsh. (6/8)
Figure showing how seed cones grow in Araucaria araucana and Araucaria angustifolia. Each point on the graph shows the size of the seed cones at different moments, expressed as a percentage of their final size. For A. araucana, cone size was measured directly, while for A. angustifolia the information came from published studies. The lines show the growth patterns that best describe how cone size changes over time for each species. A. araucana follows a curve that reflects irregular but steady growth, while A. angustifolia shows a smoother, S-shaped growth pattern. The shaded area on the graph marks the time of year when climate conditions are most favourable for cone growth in each species.
November 14, 2025 at 1:58 PM
annbot.bsky.social
Pollination happens at a later ovule stage, and pollen tubes grow faster, a possible adaptation to ensure fertilization happens within the narrow window of favorable conditions. (5/8)
Figure showing how ovules develop in Araucaria araucana and how pollen tubes grow inside them. These images show the inside of developing ovules at different times of the year: February (A), March (B), June (C), and October (D). Pollen tubes—the tiny structures that carry the male genetic material—enter the ovule through a small opening called the micropyle. They can already be seen there in February, but they only reach the area near the female gametophyte (the part that will form the seed) by October of the second year. Close-up views (E–I) show the pollen tubes in more detail: their presence in the micropyle in February (E) and June (F), and their structure—including their nuclei (arrow) and outer wall—in February (G), March (H), and June (I). Early in development, many cells around the pollen tube break down, and starch grains accumulate (visible in February), while by June the amount of starch is lower.
November 14, 2025 at 1:58 PM
annbot.bsky.social
They followed the female cones of A. araucana over time, using anatomical techniques (resin embedding, sectioning, and staining) to track ovule formation from early development to embryo formation. 🔬 (3/8)
Figure showing how a seed cone grows in Araucaria araucana. The cone first appears in spring, and its seed takes about 17 months to fully mature, finishing in early autumn of the following year. When it emerges, its bracts (the small scale-like structures) already look different from the leaves because they are longer in shape. These bracts start out pale and not photosynthetic, then slowly turn green from the tip downward over the next couple of months. Pollination (indicated by ‘p’ and an arrow) happens about a month and a half after the cone appears. The cone grows quickly until early summer. As winter approaches in its first year, growth pauses and the cone enters a dormant phase. Development starts again at the end of winter, beginning its second year. By month 17, the seed is fully mature and ready to be dispersed.
November 14, 2025 at 1:58 PM
annbot.bsky.social
Most species in the Araucariaceae family live in warm regions. But A. araucana grows in the cool, highly seasonal Andes. Researchers wanted to know: how does this tree time cone and ovule development under such conditions? 🌦️ (2/8)
Araucaria araucana trees growing on rocky mountainside under cloudy sky in Patagonia. Neuquen, Argentina. Canva
November 14, 2025 at 1:58 PM
annbot.bsky.social
🎉 Great news! The paper ‘Developmental timing in the female reproductive cycle of Araucaria araucana: seasonality and evolutionary perspectives’ in @annbot by Vera Emprin and co-authors is now #free for 2 weeks 🧵(1/7)

👉 doi.org/qc69

#PlantReproduction #AoBpapers
Developmental timing in the female reproductive cycle of Araucaria araucana: seasonality and evolutionary perspectives
November 14, 2025 at 1:58 PM