Ecological patterns of morphological variation in Italian populations of Romulea bulbocodium (Iridaceae)

Plant regeneration from seeds responds to phylogenetic relatedness and local adaptation in Mediterranean Romulea (Iridaceae) species

“…; Angiolini et al. ). Mediterranean Romulea species typically grow in dry or temporarily humid grasslands and pastures mainly comprised of annual species (Čarni et al.…”

“…& Mauri, two ecotypes were recently identified (Angiolini et al. ). In this article, we analyze this question studying the functional ecology of Romulea species and their association with environmental conditions, something which has never been analyzed before.…”

“…This genus is comprised of about 100 taxa and displays a disjunct distribution pattern, with about 80% of the taxa occurring in southern Africa and on the Arabian Peninsula and the other 20% (about 15 species) occurring in the western parts of the Mediterranean Basin (Goldblatt et al 2008), where they are found in coastal and island ecosystems . While extensive morphological, anatomical, and taxonomical studies on Mediterranean Romulea species already exist (Is ßik and D€ onmez 2007; Coppi et al 2010;Frignani and Iiriti 2011;Peruzzi et al 2011;Karaismailoglu 2015;Mifsud 2015), relationships among individual taxa have not been investigated sufficiently, and our knowledge on their ecology, physiology, and evolutionary history is limited (K€ ok et al 2007;Angiolini et al 2015). Mediterranean Romulea species typically grow in dry or temporarily humid grasslands and pastures mainly comprised of annual species ( Carni et al 2014).…”

“…Frignani and Iiriti (2011) pointed to a high degree of polymorphism and formulated the hypothesis that adaptation to local ecological conditions should be considered among the main evolutionary drivers of inter-and intraspecific variability within Mediterranean taxa, for one of which, Romulea bulbocodium (L.) Sebast. & Mauri, two ecotypes were recently identified (Angiolini et al 2015). In this article, we analyze this question studying the functional ecology of Romulea species and their association with environmental conditions, something which has never been analyzed before.…”

Intraspecific variability of leaf form and function across habitat types

“…Less likely trait combinations can probably be found in marginal environmental conditions (less frequent, not necessarily harsher) that might span narrower environmental gradients, thereby reducing the breadth of the possible successful trait combinations, eventually selecting for lower ITV. We could speculate that narrower environmental gradients might constrain phenotypic plasticity and ecotypic differentiation (Angiolini et al, 2015;Valladares et al, 2007). On the contrary, more common trait combinations occur in regions of the trait space where trait trade-offs are less strong.…”