Olena P. Zhivotovsky's research while affiliated with University of Connecticut and other places

... 1 3 hybridizes easily and exists in a range of ploidy levels. Many Salix spp. in general are well adapted to riparian or wetland habitats (Kuzovkina and Quigley 2005) and their high transpiration rates and predisposition to xylem cavitation would suggest that they would be highly vulnerable to water stress (Wikberg and Ögren 2004;Zhivotovsky and Kuzovkina 2010). Willow breeding efforts have largely focused on the development of interspecific hybrids that display hybrid vigor for yield and important biomass traits Smart and Cameron 2012). ...

... The results from our previous study suggested that a highly acidic soil at one location in Connecticut (pH 4.4-4.6) did not impede the growth of willows [31], although no comparison of growth rates at sites with higher soil pH was conducted. ...

... A large number of willow and poplar clones were tested and a high variability in PTE accumulations was found [19][20][21], not only between individual clones [19,21], but also for single clones at different sites, due to differences in soil properties [22] and contamination level [19]. High differences in PTEs accumulation were found also between plants grown in pot experiments and in the field, because the roots of plants in pots densely penetrate a limited volume of soil, but in the field, they can easily develop in the large soil volume avoiding contaminated topsoil layer [23]. The PTEs distribution in plant tissues is not uniform, for instance, Cd and Zn are accumulated more in the aboveground biomass, especially in leaves while Pb is often accumulated more in branches [17] and in roots [24]. ...

... [27] offers a plethora of resources for selective breeding aimed at augmenting the phytoremediation capacity. Numerous studies have reported that the phytoremediation capacity varies significantly depends on the willow species or clones [33][34][35][36]. The Salix genus in China has been identified to comprise approximately 275 species [37]. ...