Abstract
BackgroundThe process of apophytism or spreading native species to human-made habitats is one of the main elements in the creation of plant cover in anthropogenic areas. Lately, an increase of anthropogenic localities with valuable flora has been observed. Apophytes are also members of the family Orchidaceae, especially from the genus Epipactis. The aim of the study was to (i) determine and compare the phenotypic variation of E. helleborine (L.) Crantz plants in anthropogenic and natural habitats, (ii) compare the genome size of plants growing in natural and anthropogenic habitats. The results reported in this study may indicate that a habitat influences morphological characteristics of plant species.MethodsField studies were conducted on four native stands and four stands in anthropogenic areas of E. helleborine in Poland in years 2011–2013. Biometrical analyses were performed on shoots and flowers. The flowers were characterised by 25 biometric features and measured using a Nikon SMZ 800 binocular, microscopic Moticam-1SP cameras and the MIPlus07 programme (Conbest Co.). The nuclear DNA content was determined in fresh and young leaves of E. helleborine, collected from four natural and four anthropogenic populations.ResultsWe observed that in anthropogenic populations: (i) shoots were higher than shoots from natural populations, (ii) flowers differed significantly in terms of ten biometric features between habitats, (iii) the genome size of some population differed significantly between plants growing in natural and anthropogenic habitats.DiscussionAccording to some researchers, the presence of phenotypic variability and the occurrence of ecotypes are adaptation strategies of plants to environmental changes. In our opinion, in the case of the studied anthropogenic habitats (roadside) in which the E. helleborine populations grew, we can talk about ecofen due to the often repeated set of characteristic features, i.e., high shoots, long inflorescence and long, broad leaves. We agree, however, that it is difficult to isolate a taxonomic unit for ecofen due to the lack of experimental research.
Highlights
The family Orchidaceae comprises 20,000 to 30,000 estimated species, making it the largest family of flowering plants (Baumann, Kunkele & Lorenz, 2010; Delforge, 2006; Pedersen & Mossberg, 2017)
The study sites were located in three different geographical regions: from the Białowieża Primeval Forest, Northeast Poland, through Central Poland, to the Province of Lower Silesia, Southwest Poland (Figs. 1A, 1B-I).The identified investigated habitats were separated into two categories: the populations found in anthropogenic habitats such as roadsides and in natural habitats such as mixed forests (Table 1)
In the case of the anthropogenic populations, E. helleborine shoots were longer than shoots from the natural populations
Summary
The family Orchidaceae comprises 20,000 to 30,000 estimated species, making it the largest family of flowering plants (Baumann, Kunkele & Lorenz, 2010; Delforge, 2006; Pedersen & Mossberg, 2017). It is observed that some orchid species disappear in their natural habitats and penetrate anthropogenic environments (Dressler, 1981; Reinikka, 2008). Jakubska-Busse (2008), Jakubska-Busse et al (2016) have observed some morphological adaptations to local environments in this genus One of such adaptations is the change in floral architecture and the possibility of transition between cross- and self- pollination (Tałałaj & Brzosko, 2008). This genus has very asymmetric and very complex karyotypes, which causes a variation in the number of chromosomes between the Epipactis species during the differentiation process. That it is difficult to isolate a taxonomic unit for ecofen due to the lack of experimental research
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