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   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Form and function of island and mainland plants    
      
     Date:   
         July 14, 2023   
     Source:   
         University of Go"ttingen   
     Summary:   
         Oceanic islands provide useful models for ecology, biogeography   
         and evolutionary research. Many ground-breaking findings --   
         including Darwin's theory of evolution -- have emerged from the   
         study of species on islands and their interplay with their living   
         and non-living environment.   
      
         Now, an international research team has investigated the flora of   
         the Canary Island of Tenerife. The results were surprising: the   
         island's plant-life exhibits a remarkable diversity of forms. But   
         the plants differ little from mainland plants in functional   
         terms. However, unlike the flora of the mainland, the flora   
         of Tenerife is dominated by slow- growing, woody shrubs with a   
         'low-risk' life strategy.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   Oceanic islands provide useful models for ecology, biogeography and   
   evolutionary research. Many ground-breaking findings -- including Darwin's   
   theory of evolution -- have emerged from the study of species on islands   
   and their interplay with their living and non-living environment. Now,   
   an international research team led by the University of Go"ttingen has   
   investigated the flora of the Canary Island of Tenerife. The results   
   were surprising: the island's plant-life exhibits a remarkable diversity   
   of forms.   
      
   But the plants differ little from mainland plants in functional   
   terms. However, unlike the flora of the mainland, the flora of Tenerife   
   is dominated by slow- growing, woody shrubs with a "low-risk" life   
   strategy. The results were published in Nature.   
      
   The researchers investigated how the plants of Tenerife differ   
   in functional terms from plants from other parts of the world. They   
   conducted extensive field research and measurements at over 500 sites   
   using the most up-to-date methods of functional ecology. The sites   
   were scattered all over the island at altitudes ranging from sea level   
   to mountainous regions above 3,300 metres. The scientists recorded   
   about 80% of Tenerife's native seed plants, and surveyed eight plant   
   characteristics: plant size, specific wood density, leaf thickness,   
   absolute and specific leaf area, leaf dry matter, nitrogen concentration   
   in leaf tissue, and seed weight. They compared their data with data on   
   more than 2,000 plant species found on the mainland.   
      
   "Our study shows, for the first time and contrary to all expectations,   
   that species groups that evolved on the Canary Islands do not contribute   
   to the expansion of the breadth of different traits. This means they do   
   not lead to more functional diversity," explains the lead of the study,   
   Professor Holger Kreft, and Go"ttingen University's Biodiversity,   
   Macroecology and Biogeography research group. Previous comparisons   
   show that species occurring on islands can differ significantly from   
   their relatives on the mainland. A well-known example is provided by   
   the Galapagos giant tortoise: the species is only found on the Galapagos   
   Islands and, as a result of adaptation to its environmental conditions, is   
   much larger than tortoises from the mainland. The research team expected   
   similar differences between island and mainland plants, but this was   
   not the case. "Rather, we see that most species follow the constraints   
   of the island climate. Thus, medium-sized, woody species develop. These   
   tend to live with the limited resources and high risks of extinction   
   on the island. That is, they grow slowly. The high functional diversity   
   is mainly due to the species that are widespread on the island and the   
   nearby mainland," explains Kreft.   
      
   "At the beginning of our research, we assumed that island plants would   
   show fundamental differences and would be characterised by rather limited   
   diversity in terms of function due to their geographical isolation,"   
   explains first author Dr Paola Barajas Barbosa. The results are part of   
   her doctoral thesis, which she did at the University of Go"ttingen. She   
   now does research at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity   
   Research in Leipzig (iDiv). "We were all the more surprised to find that   
   the plants of Tenerife have a comparatively high functional diversity."   
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   Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Go"ttingen. Note:   
   Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Martha Paola Barajas Barbosa, Dylan Craven, Patrick Weigelt, Pierre   
         Denelle, Ru"diger Otto, Sandra Di'az, Jonathan Price, Jose'   
         Mari'a Ferna'ndez-Palacios, Holger Kreft. Assembly of functional   
         diversity in an oceanic island flora. Nature, 2023; DOI:   
         10.1038/s41586-023-06305-z   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230714163216.htm   
      
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