Morphology and genome size of Epipactis helleborine (L.) Crantz (Orchidaceae) growing in anthropogenic and natural habitats

PeerJ

article

Agnieszka Rewicz¹  Monika Rewers²  Iwona Jędrzejczyk²  Tomasz Rewicz³  Jeremi Kołodziejek¹  Anna Jakubska-Busse⁴ 

[1] Department of Geobotany and Plant Ecology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz;Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, UTP University of Science and Technology, Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Cytometry;Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz;Department of Botany, Institute of Environmental Biology, University of Wrocław

关键词: Epipactis helleborine;    Morphology;    Genom size;    Anthropogenic;    Adaptation;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.5992

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe process of apophytism or spreading native species to human-made habitats is one of the main elements in the creation of plant cover in anthropogenic areas. Lately, an increase of anthropogenic localities with valuable flora has been observed. Apophytes are also members of the family Orchidaceae, especially from the genus Epipactis. The aim of the study was to (i) determine and compare the phenotypic variation of E. helleborine (L.) Crantz plants in anthropogenic and natural habitats, (ii) compare the genome size of plants growing in natural and anthropogenic habitats. The results reported in this study may indicate that a habitat influences morphological characteristics of plant species.MethodsField studies were conducted on four native stands and four stands in anthropogenic areas of E. helleborine in Poland in years 2011–2013. Biometrical analyses were performed on shoots and flowers. The flowers were characterised by 25 biometric features and measured using a Nikon SMZ 800 binocular, microscopic Moticam-1SP cameras and the MIPlus07 programme (Conbest Co.). The nuclear DNA content was determined in fresh and young leaves of E. helleborine, collected from four natural and four anthropogenic populations.ResultsWe observed that in anthropogenic populations: (i) shoots were higher than shoots from natural populations, (ii) flowers differed significantly in terms of ten biometric features between habitats, (iii) the genome size of some population differed significantly between plants growing in natural and anthropogenic habitats.DiscussionAccording to some researchers, the presence of phenotypic variability and the occurrence of ecotypes are adaptation strategies of plants to environmental changes. In our opinion, in the case of the studied anthropogenic habitats (roadside) in which the E. helleborine populations grew, we can talk about ecofen due to the often repeated set of characteristic features, i.e., high shoots, long inflorescence and long, broad leaves. We agree, however, that it is difficult to isolate a taxonomic unit for ecofen due to the lack of experimental research.

【 授权许可】

CC BY