Abstract: A closed depression is defined as a geomorphologic element where a sediment depository is encircled by hillslopes. Despite the fact that closed depressions are often the only stagnant water points in many European landscapes, few ecological researches on their plant assemblages have been done. The main goal of this study was to give first results of the environmental factors responsible for the vegetation composition, richness and rarity in the closed depressions of the Lorraine biogeographical district (Belgium, France and grand-duche de Luxembourg). We surveyed for plant presence 85 forest and 77 grassland closed depressions. For each site, wetland area, local environmental factors and regional connectivities registered. For each species, the Ellenberg values were compiled. To investigate the main source of variation in species composition and in species richness (including richness in rare species), Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling analyses and Generalized Linear Models were respectively used. Species pools in forest (forest and preforest species) and in grassland (bog plants, pioneers, helophytes) were quite different. In both landscapes, a gradient from plants typical of basic high-productive soils to plants typical of acid low-productive soils reflects a shared successional gradient. The accumulation of organic matter allowed the establishment of Sphagnum spp., which slowly acidified the soil and thus acted as ecosystem engineers for the arrival of bog plants. Moreover, the species composition was additionally driven by the plant light tolerance in forests and by the plant water requirements in grasslands. Mechanisms of species accumulation (increase in species richness) were different in forests and in grasslands: respectively related to the plant light tolerance and to the wetland area. At the regional level, the averaged soil productivity was negatively related to the richness in rare species. Indeed, perennial highly-competitive plants such as Glyceria spp., Iris pseudacorus or Urtica dioica impeded the establishment of smaller and rarer species. At the habitat level, isolated closed depressions (due to either low connectivity or low grazing pressure) have more habitat rare species, giving evidences of dispersal limitation in plant assemblages of closed depressions.

Abstract: The within-population spatial structure of genetic diversity is shaped by demographic processes, including historical accidents such as forest perturbations. Information drawn from the analysis of the spatial distribution of genetic diversity is therefore inherently linked to demographic-historical processes that ultimately determine the fate of populations. All adult trees and saplings in a 1.4-ha plot within a mixed Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst) stand were characterised by means of chloroplast (paternally inherited) markers, and a large sub-sample of these were genotyped at mitochondrial (maternally inherited) molecular markers. These data were used to analyse the spatial distribution of genetic variation and to compare the patterns corresponding to the two marker types. The plot presented non-homogeneous local stem density in the younger cohorts, and the indirect effect of this source of variation on the spatial genetic structure was investigated. Results suggest that (i) spatially limited seed dispersal induced patchiness in genotype distribution, while pollen flow had a homogenising effect; (ii) deviations from random spatial structure were stronger in the demographically most stable portions of the stand, while they were weaker where sudden bursts of regeneration occurred; (iii) spatially overlapping adult and sapling cohorts displayed the same spatial genetic structure (stronger on stable areas, weaker in portions of the stand undergoing events of intense regeneration), which was substantiated by the influence of local demographic processes. Regeneration dynamics as modulated by demography thus influences the distribution of genetic diversity within the stand both in the younger life stages and in the adult population. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Distinct ecosystem level carbon : nitrogen : phosphorus (C : N : P) stoichiometries in forest foliage have been suggested to reflect ecosystem-scale selection for physiological strategies in plant nutrient use. Here, this hypothesis was explored in a nutrient-poor lowland rainforest in French Guiana. Variation in C, N and P concentrations was evaluated in leaf litter and foliage from neighbour trees of 45 different species, and the litter concentrations of major C fractions were also measured. Litter C ranged from 45.3 to 52.4%, litter N varied threefold (0.68-2.01%), and litter P varied seven-fold (0.009-0.062%) among species. Compared with foliage, mean litter N and P concentrations decreased by 30% and 65%, respectively. Accordingly, the range in mass-based N : P shifted from 14 to 55 in foliage to 26 to 105 in litter. Resorption proficiencies indicated maximum P withdrawal in most species, but with a substantial increase in variation in litter P compared with foliage. These data suggest that constrained ecosystem-level C : N : P ratios do not preclude the evolution of highly diversified strategies of nutrient use and conservation among tropical rainforest tree species. The resulting large variation in litter quality will influence stoichiometric constraints within the decomposer food web, with potentially far-ranging consequences on nutrient dynamics and plant-soil feedbacks.

Abstract: Genetic variation is generally considered a prerequisite for adaptation to new environmental conditions. Thus the discovery of genetically depauperate but geographically widespread species is unexpected. We used 12 paternally inherited chloroplast microsatellites to estimate population genetic variation across the full range of an emblematic circum-Mediterranean conifer, stone pine (Pinus pinea L.). The same chloroplast DNA haplotype is fixed in nearly all of the 34 investigated populations. Such a low level of variation is consistent with a previous report of very low levels of diversity at nuclear loci in this species. Stone pine appears to have passed through a severe and prolonged demographic bottleneck, followed by subsequent natural- and human-mediated dispersal across the Mediterranean Basin. No other abundant and widespread plant species has as little genetic diversity as P. pinea at both chloroplast and nuclear markers. However, the species harbors a nonnegligible amount of variation at adaptive traits. Thus a causal relationship between genetic diversity, as measured by marker loci, and the evolutionary precariousness of a species, cannot be taken for granted.

Abstract: Genetic variation for intrinsic water use efficiency (W-i) and related traits was estimated in a full-sib family of Quercus robur L. over 3 years. The genetic linkage map available for this F1 family was used to locate quantitative trait loci (QTL) for W-i, as estimated by leaf carbon stable isotope composition (delta C-13) or the ratio of net CO2 assimilation rate (A) to stomatal conductance to water vapour (g(w)) and related leaf traits. Gas exchange measurements were used to standardize estimates of A and g(w) and to model the sensitivity of gw to leaf-to-air vapour pressure deficit (sg(VPD)). delta C-13 varied by more than 3% among the siblings, which is equivalent to 40% variation of W-i. Most of the studied traits exhibited high clonal mean repeat-abilities (> 50%; proportion of clonal mean variability in global variance). Repeatabilities for delta C-13, leaf mass per area (LMA) and leaf nitrogen content were higher than 70%. For delta C-13, ten QTLs were detected, one of which was detected repeatedly for all 3 years and consistently explained more than 20% of measured variance. Four genomic regions were found in which co-localizing traits linked variation in W-i to variations in leaf chlorophyll and nitrogen content, LMA and sg(VPD). A positive correlation using clonal means between delta C-13 and A/g(w), as well as a co-localisation of QTL detected for both traits, can be seen as validation of the theoretical model linking the genetic architecture of these two traits.