My PhD research focuses on examining trait syndromes in two alternative defence strategies against large mammalian herbivores. Plant defence against large herbivores trade-off into ‘architectural’ and ‘low nutrient’ defence strategies. Architectural defence encompasses the possession of spinescence (i.e. spines, thorns and prickles) and ‘cagey’ branching patterns that limit feeding rates. Low nutrient (cruddy) strategy includes traits such as leaf toughness, poor leaf nutrition and deployment of quantitative and qualitative secondary metabolites. I am combining common garden phenotyping with functional trait analyses to investigate the trait syndromes associated with each of these strategies.
EDUCATION
MSc. Forest and Nature Conservation with distinction* (2012) Wageningen University, Netherlands
BSc. Natural Resources Management (2006) University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
PUBLICATIONS
Armani, M., Charles-Dominique, T., Barton, KE., Tomlinson, KW. 2019 Developmental constraints and resource environment shape early emergence and investment in spines in saplings. Annals of Botany. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcz152
Armani, M., van Langevelde, F., Tomlinson, KW., Adu-Bredu, S., Djagbletey, GD., Veenendaal, EM. 2018 Compositional patterns of overstorey and understorey woody communities in a forest-savanna boundary in Ghana. Plant Ecology and Diversity. https://doi.org/10.1080/17550874.2018.1539133
Armani, M., Uromi, G., Charles-Dominique, T., Barton, KE., Yao X., Tomlinson, KW. Structural defence is coupled with the leaf economic spectrum across saplings of spiny plants. Oikos (under review)
PRESENTATIONS
August 2019: Early emergence and investment in spines across saplings. 44th New Phytologist Symposium, Accra, Ghana. Selected poster talk (15 min). https://www.newphytologist.org/symposia/44
March. 2018: When is a spine not a spine? Savanna Science Network Meeting, Skukuza South Africa. Selected poster talk (5 mins)
December 2017: Babies with sharp teeth and the confident gambler: spines in tree juveniles. Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) Annual Academic Meeting., Menglun, China. Selected student presentation (15 mins)
February 2017: Growth – defense strategies of spiny and non-spiny plants, Gordon Research Seminar and Conference, Ventura, CA, USA. Poster
Armani on ResearchGate