🌱 Planten zonder bladeren of wortels in de grond? 🧐 Ze bestaan! Meertens-onderzoeker @l-teixeiracosta.bsky.social en mede-onderzoekers schreven een artikel over deze bijzondere #planten - #Pilostyles. Nu 2 weken gratis toegankelijk @annbot.bsky.social 👇
Calling all #ParasiticPlants enthusiasts, especially the fans of #endoparasites: our recent paper on #Pilostyles will be under free open access for 2 weeks!
We combine #PlantAnatomy, development, and #microCT to provide insights into the physiology, sexual system, and ecology of these strange plants
🚨 New paper alert!
And this is special because it has been in the pipeline for 5 years. We used #microCT scanning to show that, despite their minute vegetative body, #ParasiticPlants like #Pilostyles form an extensive colony within the host bark.
academic.oup.com/aob/advance-...
Fruiting #Pilostyles hamiltoniorum, on a very sad looking #Davieisa decurrens ! I guess it doesn’t wanna be friends 🥲
At a #Pilostyles population today, recorded 22 individuals here (probably more but the Daviesia distribution is weird) the hot summers not looking good! 5 hosts had flowers I could collect from and some looks like they had, but many had signs there infected but no flowering at all this year 🥲
Back to the insect pollinated Poison Peas! #Gastrolobium velutinum, the Stirling Range Poison Pea! Though it can be found in areas around the ranges! This one is also one of the hosts of the rare #Pilostyles collina
What does #Pilostyles habitat look like? Well from my study areas, jarrah and marri forests as well as wandoo forests!particularly where shrublands had a good grass and herb mix as well but really variable!
What do infected plants look like? #Pilostyles puts a lot of pressure on their hosts, but their impact varies as they don’t want to kill their host! Two examples of very stressed hosts, and two examples where the hosts don’t obviously look infected! #ESAus2024!
On top of their weird biology #Pilostyles have a largely undocumented interaction with invertebrates, from mantids feeding on floral visitors to various native inverts visiting their flowers! And possibly specific feeding on their fruit! #ESAus2024
#Pilostyles fruits are small berries that are covered in persistant perianth, a trait that makes them different from #Apodanthes, each fruit can have ~100 seeds at the upper limit (counting them was tedious) and are dust-like around 0.5mm, and their fruit are only around ~0.5cm!! #ESAus2024
Artwork of Daviesia seeds showing different forms
All about #Pilostyles today! This artwork that was in the Margaret Flockton Awards, is depicting 6 species of #Daviesia seed that play host #Pilostyles not all hosts shown!
a-b) D. decurrens; c-d) D. polyphylla; e-f) D. incrassata; g-h) D. nudiflora; I-j) D. preissii; k-l) D. angulata!
Come down to room 102 tomorrow (Tuesday) for the plant ecology open forum at 11:45 to watch me nerd out about #Pilostyles host preference and hopefully keep within time! #ESAus2024 @ecolsocaus.bsky.social
One more day till I talk about host preference in #Pilostyles!! These two ones being visited by two very different sized #Hymenopterans are both infecting #Daviesia angulata! Come listen as I tell you what I found out, is this a favored host 🧐 come find out! #ESAus2024
A week till my talk at #ESAus2024!
Titled “Choose a host, any host: Assessing host preference in Pilostyles hamiltoniorum on its key host genus Daviesia”
Im excited! This is my first big conference talk presenting my first paper! Time to nerd out about #Pilostyles @ecolsocaus.bsky.social
#Pilostyles flowers causing cracks to form in the stem
Small bumps forming by developing Pilostyles flowers
More cracking and bumps forming from Pilostyles flowers
Host Daviesia preissii looking heavily impacted by the infection of Pilostyles
They begin to stir!! #Pilostyles hamiltoniorum forming flowers within the stems of this #Daviesia preissii! the flowers start as bumps on the stem that cause cracks to from as they slowly form, they start now and will be open for around March time! #WildOz #Apodanthaceae
