Date and time: 10th October 2025; 11:00 – 11:45 AM (CET) – Secondary Sexual Dimorphism in Response to Environmental Stress in Mediterranean Shrubs
The CLEANFOREST webinar series is hosted by COST Action’s Young Researchers community for all interested researchers and practitioners, usually during the second and fourth week of every month. We are honored to announce that for the twenty-seventh event in the series, we will be joined by Angela Balzano from the Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, one of the CLEANFOREST STSM Grantees. A short summary of her talk is given below.
During the STSM at the University of Naples Federico II, I investigated secondary sexual dimorphism in two Mediterranean dioecious shrubs (Rhamnus alaternus and Pistacia lentiscus). Stem and leaf cross-sections from male and female individuals were analyzed to measure wood (vessel size and frequency in the last five rings) and leaf anatomical traits (cuticle, epidermis, and mesophyll thickness). The results revealed sex-specific anatomical differences, particularly pronounced in Rhamnus alaternus: female individuals exhibited greater xylem safety and redundancy, while male indicative of a more conservative water-use strategy and enhanced resistance to water loss. The work achieved its objectives and laid the basis for at least two planned publications and future collaborations.
Deadline: please sign up via the registration link above BEFORE the webinar.
Contact:
- Presenter: Angela Balzano; Angela.Balzano@bf.uni-lj.si
- Webinar convenor: Andrei Popa; popa.andrei.dorna@gmail.com
- Webinar co-convenor: Jakub Jelen; kuba.jelen@wp.pl
