Fig 6 - uploaded by Halina Galera
Content may be subject to copyright.
Comparison of habit and colour of two leaves of Geranium robertianum plants after 5 months of glasshouse cultivation with moderate light intensity. On the left—a plant leaf collected in Waliły (railway tracks), on the right—a plant leaf from Zajezierce (natural population)
Source publication
The question of whether any specific plant species are typically growing along railway tracks (the so-called “railway-wandering plants”) has been discussed for many years. This study proves the existence of a form of Geranium robertianum species growing along railway tracks in North–Eastern Poland. Floristic studies have been carried out in 246 are...
Citations
... However, most of these studies concern active railway lines or stations. Some researchers draw special attention to the so-called "railroad specialists", i.e., plants occurring exclusively (or mostly) along railway lines [18,39,41,42]. The impact of functioning railway tracks on the vegetation 1. ...
Abandoned railway areas are places for the spontaneous spread of plants and the formation of specific plant communities. However, only limited information on this subject is available in the literature. The study aimed to determine the direction and the rate of forest formation, taking into account selected environmental factors. A floristic, phytosociological, and soil survey was carried out on a set of abandoned railway lines in the Silesia Province (southern Poland). For this purpose, 30 plots of vegetation were selected: 15 located in the vicinity of forests (F) and 15 surrounded by ruderal or segetal communities (NF). As a result, a total of 132 species (121 vascular plants and 11 mosses) were recorded, including 83 species at F plots and 78 species at NF plots. During the research, 13 syntaxa were distinguished. It was found that silt content, nitrate nitrogen (N-NO3), pH, and phosphorous have a significant impact upon which species dominated in the surveyed areas. It was found that the proximity of the forest was a crucial factor in determining the development of forest communities on abandoned railway areas. These results can be helpful for understanding how environmental conditions shape the forest structure on these types of habitats.
... Consequently, recent years have seen the appearance of publications focusing on this area (Müller et al., 2001;Schreiter, 2010;Steckler et al., 2012;Schreiter & Kappis, 2013a, b;Eglinton, 2014;Pfautsch & Howe, 2018;Sikorski et al., 2018). In the majority of studies, green tram and railway tracks were researched separately from the spontaneously growing flora and vegetation of conventional tracks, or authors did not focus primarily on the comparison of these two types of habitats (Niemi, 1969;Suominen, 1969;Eliáš, 1979Eliáš, , 1981Brandes, 1983Brandes, , 1984Brandes, , 1993aHohla et al., 2000Hohla et al., , 2002Brandes, 2002aBrandes, , b, 2003Brandes, , 2004aBrandes, , b, c, d, 2005aBrandes, , b, 2008Jehlík & Dostálek, 2008;Tret'yakova, 2010;Galera et al., 2012Galera et al., , 2014Wierzbicka et al., 2014;Májeková et al., 2014;Májeková & Limánek, 2016;Woźnica et al., 2016;Wrzesień et al., 2016;Májeková et al., 2021). Sikorski et al. (2018) compared green tram tracks at different developmental stages from their establishment, but there is a lack of other similar studies, not to mention studies focused strictly on the comparison of conventional and green tracks. ...
Green infrastructure (GI) brings many benefits to urban ecosystems. Green tram tracks can be considered to be a part of GI. The presented study is focused on the comparison of the species’ frequency and composition between conventional tram tracks and green tram tracks in Bratislava, Slovakia, Central Europe. This comparison also provides an insight into the changes of the flora of tram tracks over time, as we compare the results of the older research with recent research on green tram tracks. The results revealed significant differences in the composition of flora between conventional tram tracks and green tram tracks. In particular, the total number of species has decreased over time, as green tram tracks host fewer spontaneously growing taxa than conventional ones. The frequency of occurrence of archaeophytes and neophytes has decreased on the strict rail yard while on the tracksides it has increased. Green tram tracks deliver positive features to ecosystems, but may also have negative aspects because they present a pool of alien, potentially invasive plants.
... These plants prefer shady and fertile forest habitats with a high content of phosphorus and nitrogen in the soil. However, opposite conditions prevail on railway tracks-strong insolation and very nutrient-poor substrate (crushed stone mixed with river sand), and extensive use of herbicides (Falinska and Piroznikov 1983;Tofts 2004;Buriánek et al. 2013;Májeková et al. 2014;Wierzbicka et al. 2014). It is interesting, therefore, as a result of which processes this ecological niche is colonized by the G. robertianum plants. ...
... In the USA, as a result of the increasing use of glyphosate, weeds have appeared in the fields that are resistant to this active substance, for example, Conyza canadensis (Adamczewski and Dobrzański 2012a). Regular spraying on railway tracks has caused that the G. robertianum populations occurring there, including the population from Waliły-Station described by Wierzbicka et al. (2014), not only adapted to excessive insolation and water shortage, but also to spraying with herbicides. Until now, few plant biotypes have been found on railway tracks that tolerate or become resistant to glyphosate used there. ...
Geranium robertianum is a herbaceous plant that prefers shady and fertile forest habitats. However, it also occurs on railway tracks, where there are difficult conditions for plant growth and regular herbicide spraying (in high concentrations, twice a year). One of the most commonly used herbicides in railway areas is glyphosate. The effect of the glyphosate on the G. robertianum plants found on railway tracks and in nearby forests in north-eastern Poland was checked. The aim of the study was to explain how G. robertianum can survive on railway tracks despite spraying with the glyphosate. Increased tolerance to the glyphosate of the G. robertianum plants from track populations was demonstrated compared to the plants from forest populations that had not previously been in contact with the herbicide. After 35 days after treatment with the herbicide, 75% of the plants from the observed forest populations withered, while only 38% did from the track populations. Ultrastructure of plant leaf cells from forest populations was strongly disturbed, which was not observed in plants from track populations. It was also shown that plants from track populations accumulated more glyphosate and AMPA in their tissues than plants from forest populations. The obtained results indicate that long-term use of herbicides may cause formation of biotypes of plants resistant to a given herbicide. This fact explains the possibility of G. robertianum occurring on railway tracks, despite spraying with the glyphosate. It is also a manifestation of microevolutionary processes.
... Geranium robertianum L. (Geraniaceae) is a common, biennial(annual), ruderal herb and is highly variable morphologically. The species shows a wide ecological amplitude, mainly occurring in woodlands and hedge banks, but also in various open habitats, such as grasslands, wastelands, railway banks, skeletal soils, and walls, on calcareous and acidic soils (Tofts, 2004;Vandelook & Van Assche, 2010;Wierzbicka et al., 2014). It is widely spread in its native distribution area in Europe, and naturalized in temperate regions of many other continents, where it can become invasive (Tofts, 2004). ...
... As a result, genetic variation and structure patterns may be contrasted according to mating processes and short-and long-distance seed dispersal (e.g., Bomblies et al., 2010;Gelmi-Candusso et al., 2017;Helsen et al., 2015;Jacquemart et al., 2021). Moreover, due to its wide distribution range combined with a wide ecological amplitude, G. robertianum appears as an interesting model for studying local adaptation and response to climate change (Hoffmann & Sgrò, 2011;Wierzbicka et al., 2014). Therefore, we developed polymorphic microsatellite markers to quantify genetic variation and structure in G. robertianum. ...
... Juniperus communis (Jacquemart et al., 2021) and for species showing epizoochorous seed dispersal, such as Anthyllis vulneraria (Helsen et al., 2015) and Dianthus carthusianorum (Rico & Wagner, 2016), as well as accidental introduction of seeds along with anthropogenic activities and infrastructures (Wierzbicka et al., 2014). Moreover, no evidence of reproductive isolation was found between the UK and German populations assigned to separate clusters as viable seeds and healthy plants were obtained from outcrosses (F. ...
Knowing species’ breeding system and mating processes occurring in populations is important not only for understanding population dynamics, gene flow processes, and species' response to climate change, but also for designing control plans of invasive species. Geranium robertianum, a widespread biennial herbaceous species showing high morphological variation and wide ecological amplitude, can become invasive outside its distribution range. A mixed-mating system may be expected given the species’ floral traits. However, autonomous selfing is considered as a common feature. Genetic variation and structure, and so population mating processes, have not been investigated in wild populations. We developed 15 polymorphic microsatellite markers to quantify genetic variation and structure in G. robertianum. To investigate whether selfing might be the main mating process in natural conditions, we sampled three generations of plants (adult, F1 and F2) for populations from the UK, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Sweden, and compared open-pollinated with outcrossed hand-pollinated F2 progeny. The highly positive Wright's inbreeding coefficient (FIS) values in adults, F1 and open-pollinated F2 progeny and the low FIS values in outcross F2 progeny supported autonomous selfing as the main mating process for G. robertianum in wild conditions, despite the presence of attractive signals for insect pollination. Genetic differentiation among samples was found, showing some western-eastern longitudinal trend. Long-distance seed dispersal might have contributed to the low geographic structure. Local genetic differentiation may have resulted not only from genetic drift effects favored by spontaneous selfing, but also from ecological adaptation. The presence of duplicate loci with disomic inheritance is consistent with the hypothesis of allotetraploid origin of G. robertianum. The fact that most microsatellite markers behave as diploid loci with no evidence of duplication supports the hypothesis of ancient polyploidization. The differences in locus duplication and the relatively high genetic diversity across G. robertianum range despite spontaneous autonomous selfing suggest multiple events of polyploidization.
... A large body of scientific studies have clearly documented that certain abiotic stresses like heavy metal contamination of soil and environment have been aggravated by anthropogenic activities (Straalen and Donker 1994;Yadav 2010;Wang et al. 2014;Wierzbicka et al. 2014). Rapid industrialization and current farming practices like heavy use of synthetic chemicals -pesticides and fertilizers -have been deteriorating the soil conditions to a great extent. ...
In this chapter, we will examine the role of trichomes in plant stress biology. Trichomes have been long studied as the first line of defense against herbivores. We review the studies that have examined the structure, classification, and diversity of trichomes in flowering plants, followed by their modes of action against abiotic and biotic stressors. We also review the studies on herbivore X trichome interactions and how trichomes play a role in both direct and indirect plant defenses. Next, we use results from our research to highlight the importance of trichomes as an effective measure of plant defense and how genetic variation affects trichome-mediated defenses. And, finally we propose some exciting new areas of research on trichomes and trichome-mediated defenses for future work.
... The examined soils were collected from railway tracks located in north-eastern Poland at the Białystok Fabryczny, Waliły, Hajnówka, and Siemianówka stations, representing the Podlasie area, and the large station at Iława Główna, representing the western part of the Masuria region. This paper is a continuation of earlier studies focused on the pollution of railway areas in north-eastern Poland Wierzbicka et al. 2014;Wiłkomirski et al. 2011Wiłkomirski et al. , 2012. ...
Railway transport is a source of pollution to soils and living organisms by e.g. PAHs, PCBs, oil-derived products, pesticides and heavy metals. Soil toxicity evaluation requires chemical analyses, indicating the type and content of particular pollutants, as well as biological analyses, which allow assessing the reaction of organisms to these pollutants. This paper is focused on a multi-aspect evaluation of the degree of toxicity and pollution of soil in selected railway areas from north-eastern Poland by application of numerous biotests and chemical analyses. The soils were sampled on railway tracks from the following railway stations: Białystok Fabryczny, Siemianówka, Hajnówka, Iława Główna and Waliły. The most toxic soils occur on the railway tracks at Białystok Fabryczny and Siemianówka. They had a significant toxic effect on test organisms from various trophic levels. The contents of PAHs, PCBs, heavy metals, oil-derived hydrocarbons and pesticide residues were determined in the examined soils. In all cases the detected pollutants did not exceed the admissible levels. The highest content of oil-derived substances was noted in soils from Białystok Fabryczny and concentrations were moderate in soils from Siemianówka. Although the pollutants determined in soils from railway tracks did not exceed the admissible values, they had a toxic effect on numerous test organisms from different trophic levels. This suggests a synergistic effect of low concentrations (within the admissible levels) of several pollutants together, which resulted in a toxic effect on the organisms. Thus, there is a strong need of not only chemical, but also ecotoxicological analyses during the evaluation of environmental conditions. Based on data obtained from biological and chemical analyses, we concluded that railway transport may pose a hazard to the natural environment to a larger extent that hitherto expected.
This study surveyed sites left by former Zn-Pb mining in western Małopolska (S Poland), focusing on old heaps of mining waste rock ("warpie") located in agricultural land and suburban wasteland. Topsoil samples were taken from 65 heaps (macro-scale study) and characterized using many parameters, including heavy metal contamination, macronutrient content, pH and texture. Moreover, plant species richness and composition as well as soil microbial parameters (biomass, urease and arylsulphatase activities, the colonization potential of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) were estimated. At five sites, a short transect was delineated from heaps towards their surroundings (micro-scale study) to estimate the impact of the heaps on metal concentration in the adjacent agricultural soil. The total heavy metal concentration in the heap soil varied greatly across sites, ranging from 5 to 522 mg Cd kg-1, 94 to 23006 mg Pb kg-1, 6 to 51 mg Tl kg-1 and 394 to 70435 mg Zn kg-1. The values were very high compared to these measured in the soil of the control areas: 2–5 mg Cd kg-1, 13–67 mg Pb kg-1, 1–17 mg Tl kg-1 and 63–476 mg Zn kg-1. In the micro-scale study, the amount of heavy metals in soil generally decreased when increasing the distance from the heaps. Despite this trend, the metal concentration in agricultural soil sampled near the heaps remained well above the values recorded from the control sites. Soil pollution, represented by exchangeable Cd, was strongly correlated with available P content (negatively) as well as species composition of plant communities. The lowest values of all microbial parameters were recorded for the most polluted sites. This might be not
only the effect of high metal concentrations and low P availability in soil, but also the effect of the plant community identity: the Carlino acaulis-Brometum erecti association dominating on most heaps differed between sites with high (the festucetum ovinaevariant) and low (the typical and rubietum caesivariants) heavy metal concentrations.
