Plant functional and taxonomic diversity in European grasslands along climatic gradients

Aim: European grassland communities are highly diverse, but patterns and drivers of their continental-scale diversity remain elusive. This study analyses taxonomic and functional richness in European grasslands along continental-scale temperature and precipitation gradients. Location: Europe. Methods: We quantified functional and taxonomic richness of 55,748 vegetation plots. Six plant traits, related to resource acquisition and conservation, were analysed to describe plant community functional composition. Using a null-model approach we derived functional richness effect sizes that indicate higher or lower diversity than expected given the taxonomic richness. We assessed the variation in absolute functional and taxonomic richness and in functional richness effect sizes along gradients of minimum temperature, temperature range, annual precipitation, and precipitation seasonality using a multiple general additive modelling approach. Results: Functional and taxonomic richness was high at intermediate minimum temperatures and wide temperature ranges. Functional and taxonomic richness was low in correspondence with low minimum temperatures or narrow temperature ranges. Functional richness increased and taxonomic richness decreased at higher minimum temperatures and wide annual temperature ranges. Both functional and taxonomic richness decreased with increasing precipitation seasonality and showed a small increase at intermediate annual precipitation. Overall, effect sizes of functional richness were small. However, effect sizes indicated trait divergence at extremely low minimum temperatures and at low annual precipitation with extreme precipitation seasonality. Conclusions: Functional and taxonomic richness of European grassland communities vary considerably over temperature and precipitation gradients. Overall, they follow similar patterns over the climate gradients, except at high minimum temperatures and wide temperature ranges, where functional richness increases and taxonomic richness decreases. This contrasting pattern may trigger new ideas for studies that target specific hypotheses focused on community assembly processes. And though effect sizes were small, they indicate that it may be important to consider climate seasonality in plant diversity studies

Capacidade de produção de grãos e óleo em linhagens e cultivares de amendoim Grain and oil yield capability of peanut lines and cultivars

Avaliaram-se doze linhagens de amendoim pertencentes à coleção de germoplasma do Instituto Agronômico e os cultivares Tatuí e Tatu, este usado como controle, quanto ao teor de óleo e à produtividade de grãos e de óleo em experimentos conduzidos durante o plantio das águas de 1983/84, 1984/85 e 1985/86 no Centro Experimental de Campinas; de 1983/84 e 1985/86 na Estação Experimental de Pindorama, e de 1985/86 na Estação Experimental de Ribeirão Preto. A maioria do material incluído nas avaliações apresentou, no mínimo, o mesmo nível de produtividade do controle, cv. Tatu - 2.154kg/ha - constituindo material promissor para inclusão nos trabalhos de melhoramento. Destacaram-se em produtividade de grãos e de óleo as linhagens 5567 e Ca-34 e o cv. Tatuí. A 269 apresentou o maior teor de óleo nas sementes, 50,5%, contra 47,2% do controle. Os resultados obtidos mostraram casos em que o teor de óleo nas sementes influenciou o desempenho relativo do material em termos de produção de óleo por área. Isso indica que o teor de óleo deve ser levado em consideração, pelo menos quando da escolha dos pais para os cruzamentos ou nas últimas fases de seleção das linhagens.<br>Twelve peanut lines and the cultivars Tatuí and Tatu were evaluated for grain and oil yield, and seed oil content. The experiments were conducted during the spring summer growing seasons of 1983, 1984 and 1985 at Campinas, 1983 and 1984 at Pindorama and 1985 at Ribeirão Preto Experimental Stations, Instituto Agronômico, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Oil content was determined by the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method. Oil yield was calculated from the grain yield and seed oil content. Most of the treatments yielded as much as the control, cv. Tatu. This indicates that they can be considered as promising materials for breeding programs. The highest grain, and oil yields were obtained with lines 5567, Ca-34 and cv. Tatuí. The highest seed oil content, 50.5%, was observed for line 269, in contrast with 47.2% of the control. The results also showed that the seed oil content affected the relative performance of a line in terms of oil yield. Thus, there are evidences that the seed oil content must be evaluated when choosing parents for crossing or in the final stages of line selection