@article{GarciaCamachoMetzBiltonetal.2017,
  author    = {Garc{\´i}a-Camacho, Ra{\´u}l and Metz, Johannes and Bilton, Mark C. and Tielboerger, Katja},
  title     = {Phylogenetic structure of annual plant communities along an aridity gradient},
  series = {Israel Journal of Plant Sciences},
  volume    = {64},
  journal   = {Israel Journal of Plant Sciences},
  number    = {1-2},
  publisher = {Taylor \& Francis},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {0792-9978},
  doi       = {10.1080/07929978.2017.1288477},
  pages     = {122 -- 134},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {The phylogenetic structure of communities (PSC) reveals how evolutionary history affects community assembly processes. However, there are important knowledge gaps on PSC patterns for annual communities and there is a need for studies along environmental gradients in dry ecosystems where several processes shape PSC. Here, we investigated the PSC of annual plants along an aridity gradient in Israel, including eight years, two spatial scales, the effects of shrubs on understory, and the phylogenetic signal of important traits. Increasing drought stress led to overdispersed PSC at the drier end of the gradient, indicating that species were less related than expected by chance. This was supported at a smaller spatial scale, where within the drier sites, communities in open- more arid- habitats were more overdispersed than those under nurse shrubs. Interestingly, some key traits related to drought resistance were not conserved in the phylogeny. Together, our findings suggested that while habitat filtering selected for drought resistance strategies, these strategies evolved independently along multiple contrasting evolutionary lineages. Our comprehensive PSC study provides strong evidence for the interacting effects of habitat filtering and plant- plant interactions, particularly highlighting that the conservative evolution of traits should not be assumed in future interpretations of PSC patterns.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{LampeiMetzTielboerger2017,
  author    = {Lampei, Christian and Metz, Johannes and Tielboerger, Katja},
  title     = {Clinal population divergence in an adaptive parental environmental effect that adjusts seed banking},
  series = {New phytologist : international journal of plant science},
  volume    = {214},
  journal   = {New phytologist : international journal of plant science},
  publisher = {Wiley},
  address   = {Hoboken},
  issn      = {0028-646X},
  doi       = {10.1111/nph.14436},
  pages     = {1230 -- 1244},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Bet-hedging via between-year seed dormancy is a costly strategy for plants in unpredictable environments. Theoretically, fitness costs can be reduced through a parental environmental effect when the environment is partly predictable. We tested whether populations from environments that differ in predictability diverged in parental effects on seed dormancy. Common garden-produced seeds of the two annual plant species Biscutella didyma and Bromus fasciculatus collected along an aridity gradient were grown under 12 irrigation treatments. Offspring germination was evaluated and related to environmental correlations between generations and their fitness consequences at the four study sites. One species exhibited strong seed dormancy that increased with unpredictability in seasonal precipitation. The parental effect on seed dormancy also increased proportionally with the environmental correlation between precipitation in the parental season and seedling density in the following season; this correlation increased from mesic to arid environments. Because fitness was negatively related to density, this parental effect may be adaptive. However, the lack of dormancy in the second species indicates that bet-hedging is not the only strategy for annual plants in arid environments. Our results provide the first evidence for clinal variation in the relative strength of parental effects along environmental gradients.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{TomioloMetzBlackwoodetal.2017,
  author    = {Tomiolo, Sara and Metz, Johannes and Blackwood, Christopher B. and Djendouci, Karin and Henneberg, Lorenz and Mueller, Caroline and Tielboerger, Katja},
  title     = {Short-term drought and long-term climate legacy affect production of chemical defenses among plant ecotypes},
  series = {Environmental and Experimental Botany},
  volume    = {141},
  journal   = {Environmental and Experimental Botany},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Oxford},
  issn      = {0098-8472},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.envexpbot.2017.07.009},
  pages     = {124 -- 131},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Long and short-term climatic variation affect the ability of plants to simultaneously cope with increasing abiotic stress and biotic interactions. Specifically, ecotypes adapted to different climatic conditions (i.e., long-term legacy) may have to adjust their allocation to chemical defenses against enemies under acute drought (i.e., short-term response). Although several studies have addressed drought effects on chemical defense production, little is known about their intraspecific variation along resource gradients. Studying intraspecific variation is important for understanding how different environments select for defense strategies and how these may be affected directly and indirectly by changing climatic conditions. We conducted greenhouse experiments with the annual Biscutella didyma (Brassicaceae) to test the effects of long-term climatic legacy versus short-term drought stress on the concentrations of defense compounds (glucosinolates). To this aim, four ecotypes originating from a steep aridity gradient were exposed to contrasting water treatments. Concentrations of chemical defenses were measured separately in leaves of young (8 weeks) and old (14 weeks) plants, respectively. For young plants, ecotypes from the wettest climate (long-term legacy) as well as plants receiving high water treatments (short-term response) were better defended. A marginally significant interaction suggested that wetter ecotypes experienced a larger shift in defense production across water treatments. Older plants contained much lower glucosinolate concentrations and showed no differences between ecotypes and water treatments. Our results indicate that younger plants invest more resources into chemical defenses, possibly due to higher vulnerability to tissue loss compared to older plants. We propose that the strong response of wet ecotypes to water availability may be explained by a less pronounced adaptation to drought.},
  language  = {en}
}