Plant persistence strategies in isolated habitats
Species are not equivalent in their abilities to colonise and maintain populations on islands or habitat islands because of differences in life form, dispersal ability, physiological tolerance to environmental stressors, demographic performance and evolutionary history. We are investigating the effects of habitat size, heterogeneity and isolation on patterns of intra- and interspecific diversity in oceanic islands and different types of ecological island on the mainland, and we test for environmental and evolutionary drivers of long-term demographic performance in isolated populations.
Publication highlights:
Ordonez JS, Deák B, Valkó O, Szász V, Verbényiné NK & Csergő AM (2025) Microclimate and dry years interfere with landscape structure effects on intraspecific trait variation. Ecology and Evolution, link.
Csergő, A.M., Healy, K., O'Connell, D.P., Baudraz, M.E.A., Kelly, D.J., Ó Marcaigh, F., Smith, A.L., Villellas, J., White, C., Yang, Q. and Buckley, Y.M. (2024) Spatial phenotypic variability is higher between island populations than between mainland populations worldwide. Ecography e06787. link
Herceg-Szórádi Z, Demeter L, & Csergő AM (2023). Small area and low connectivity constrain the diversity of plant life strategies in temporary ponds. Diversity and Distributions, 29, 629– 640. link
Global plant persistence strategies
We use experimental biogeography to investigate effects of drought and local adaptation on the long-term persistence of Plantago lanceolata across its geographic range. Currently we are running a reciprocal transplant experiment shared between seven sites within the species' European range. We are also involved as participants and managers in PLANTPOPNET, a global plant demography network that studies different aspects of global persistence strategies in this model plant.
Publication highlights:
Baudraz et al. (2025) Several candidate size metrics explain vital rates across multiple populations throughout a widespread species’ range. Journal of Ecology https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70148
Villellas, J., Ehrlén, J., Crone, E.E., Csergő, A.M., Garcia, M.B., Laine, A.-L., et al (2021) Phenotypic plasticity masks range-wide genetic differentiation for vegetative but not reproductive traits in a short-lived plant. Ecology Letters, 24, 2378– 2393. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13858