Morphological and allometric variation due to percentage of cover in Eichhornia azurea (Swart) Kunth (Pontederiaceae)
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Morphological and allometric variation due to percentage of cover in Eichhornia azurea (Swart) Kunth (Pontederiaceae) Cintia Oliveira Carvalho1 · Kelsey Archer Barnhill2,3 · Alexandre Cordeiro Ascenso1 · Barbara Dunck4 · Grazielle Sales Teodoro4 · Thaisa Sala Michelan4 Received: 27 October 2019 / Revised: 6 May 2020 / Accepted: 8 May 2020 © Botanical Society of Sao Paulo 2020
Abstract Exploring the density-dependence theory is crucial to understanding how size patterns among individuals are established. This study tested if percent cover affects the morphological and allometric relationship variation of individuals of Eichhornia azurea (Swart) Kunth, an emergent perennial mat-forming macrophyte commonly found in the lower Amazon region. We predicted that (1) E. azurea found in sites with high percent coverage would have larger, thicker, heavier leaves and longer petioles than individuals found in sites with low percent coverage; (2) the percent coverage affects the allometric relationship between branch length and number of leaves. To test our predictions, we sampled sites with low and high E. azurea percent cover. Sampling occurred in Caxiuanã Bay located in Caxiuanã National Forest on the lower Amazon. The results supported our predictions, in which individuals of high percent cover sites had longer petioles, more leaves, thicker leaves and higher leaf mass per area. Individuals in low percent cover sites showed a positive relationship between branch length and number of leaves. These results indicate that E. azurea exhibits morphological and allometric plasticity in response to plant density which may help explain the success of E. azurea in a variety of habitats across South America. Keywords Allometric plasticity · Amazonian biome · Aquatic plants · Competition · Functional traits
1 Introduction The ecophysiological relationships between plants and environmental conditions can influence aquatic vegetation distribution (Lopes et al. 2016). How each individual within
* Grazielle Sales Teodoro [email protected] * Thaisa Sala Michelan [email protected] 1
Programa de Pós‑Graduação em Biodiversidade e Evolução, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Campus de Pesquisa, Belém, Pará, Brazil
2
Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Høgskoleveien 12, 1433 Ås, Norway
3
Changing Oceans Group, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, James Hutton Road, King’s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3FE, UK
4
Programa de Pós‑graduação em Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil
a taxon responds to environmental variation represents an important factor in evolutionary biology due to the potential adaptive nature of such variation (Petit et al. 1996). Competition is one of the factors that can cause these variations in individuals, since it involves a struggle to conquer resources such as light, water and nutrients, which may lead to plant growth li
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