Elevational variation in morphology and biomass allocation in carpathian snowbell Soldanella carpatica (Primulaceae).

Plants growing along wide elevation gradients in mountains experience considerable variations in environmental factors that vary across elevations. The most pronounced elevational changes are in climate conditions with characteristic decrease in air temperature with an increase in elevation. Studying intraspecific elevational variations in plant morphological traits and biomass allocation gives opportunity to understand how plants adapted to steep environmental gradients that change with elevation and how they may respond to climate changes related to global warming. In this study, phenotypic variation of an alpine plant Soldanella carpatica Vierh. (Primulaceae) was investigated on 40 sites distributed continuously across a 1,480-m elevation gradient in the Tatra Mountains, Central Europe. Mixed-effects models, by which plant traits were fitted to elevation, revealed that on most part of the gradient total leaf mass, leaf size and scape height decreased gradually with an increase in elevation, whereas dry mass investment in roots and flowers as well as individual flower mass did not vary with elevation. Unexpectedly, in the uppermost part of the elevation gradient overall plant size, including both below-and aboveground plant parts, decreased rapidly causing abrupt plant miniaturization. Despite the plant miniaturization at the highest elevations, biomass partitioning traits changed gradually across the entire species elevation range, namely, the leaf mass fraction decreased continuously, whereas the flower mass fraction and the root:shoot ratio increased steadily from the lowest to the highest elevations. Observed variations in S. carpatica phenotypes are seen as structural adjustments to environmental changes across elevations that increase chances of plant survival and reproduction at different elevations. Moreover, results of the present study agreed with the observations that populations of species from the 'Soldanella' intrageneric group adapted to alpine and subnival zones still maintain typical 'Soldanella'-like appearance, despite considerable reduction in overall plant size.

Intraspecific morphological variation of Bellidiastrum michelii (Asteraceae) along a 1,155 m elevation gradient in the Tatra Mountains.

Plant species that inhabit large elevation gradients in mountain regions are exposed to different environmental conditions. These different conditions may influence plant morphology via plastic responses and/or via genetic adaptation to the local environment. In this study, morphological variation was examined for Bellidiastrum michelii Cass. (Asteraceae) plants growing along a 1,155 m elevation gradient in the Tatra Mountains in Central Europe. The aim was to contribute to gaining a better understanding of within-species morphological variation in a mountain species across elevation gradients. Twelve morphological traits, which were measured for 340 plants collected from 34 sites, were plotted against elevation using Generalised Additive Models. Significant variation in B. michelii morphology was found across the elevation gradient. Plant size, in the form of plant height, total aboveground mass and total leaf mass, decreased significantly with increasing elevation. Similarly, floral traits, such as flower head mass, total flower mass, individual flower mass, flower head diameter and ligulate and tubular flower length, also decreased significantly with increasing elevation. However, the changes in these floral traits were not as large as those observed for plant size traits. Interestingly, the number of flowers produced by the plant, both ligulate and tubular, did not change across the studied elevation gradient. In this study, elevation was found to be an important gradient across which significant intraspecific morphological variation occurred in a mountain plant. These morphological changes may have occurred in response to various abiotic and biotic factors that change along elevation gradients.

Impact of troublesome expansive weed Rumex alpinus on species diversity of mountain pastures in Tatra National Park, Poland.

Alpine dock (Rumex alpinus) is a native plant species in many European mountain ranges. It comes from moist brushwood and open tall herb communities, though it has invaded mountain pastures. This troublesome weed forms permanent monodominant stands characterised by low nature conservation and agricultural values. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no studies assessing the impact of R. alpinus on invaded communities. Therefore, in this study we examined the potential effect of an R. alpinus on species richness, diversity and the composition of invaded vegetation in Tatra National Park, Poland. Invaded plots dominated by R. alpinus had, compared to uninvaded control plots, significantly reduced species richness, as well as low Shannon and Simpson diversity and Pielou evenness indices' values; the species richness decline in the pairs of invaded-uninvaded plots was as much as 37.7%. Analysing changes in diversity from an increase in R. alpinus coverage revealed that Shannon, Simpson and Pielou's diversity indices' values did not considerably change up to 30% of R. alpinus coverage, but a further increase in R. alpinus coverage led to a steep decline in diversity. There was exception in a number of species per plot, which decreased steadily along with the increase of R. alpinus coverage. Multivariate analysis indicated a significant shift in the composition of invaded plots in relation to uninvaded plots, resulting from the shared increase of more shadow-tolerant and higher soil base-, nutrient- and moist-demanding species.

Comparison of short-term head and body growth in an infant, preschool children, and adolescent girls

SUMMARY: Introduction: The aim of the present longitudinal study was to compare short-term growth in height, the circumference of the head, chest, and hips, biacromial width, as well as bi-iliac breadth in one infant, two preschool children, and seven adolescent girls. Methods: The studied characteristics were measured four times a week. Stature was observed during 83-130 days and the other measures during 60 days. Intra-observer technical error was calculated (TEM), and smoothing techniques using combined repeated median/median hybrid filter (CRMMH) were applied. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to estimate statistical significance of differences between mean values of length, as well as the number of stasis periods and steep changes. Results: Steep changes, continuous growth, and stasis periods were found in the studied individuals. The highest number of steep changes and the largest steep changes were noted for stature (0.85 cm). The longest period of stasis was 48 days for head circumference. There were no statistically significant differences between period length and number of stasis periods or steep changes in any of the measures of children. Conclusion: Growth curves for stature and head circumference were similar, which may suggest a common pattern of growth, different from that for thoracic bones. Steep changes in body width measures were observed in the absence of increments in both stature and head circumference.