Associations among cotyledon developmental stability, canalization and phenotypic plasticity in response to shading and burial depth in five herbaceous species at early seedling stage

Premise of research.
Cotyledons have important functions in early seedling stage and have important effects on later stages, but we know little about the relationships among developmental stability, canalization and phenotypic plasticity in cotyledons.
Methodology.
We conducted a field experiment with five herbaceous species, by subjecting them to contrasting light conditions and burial depths and measuring their cotyledon size and fluctuating asymmetry (random deviation from perfect bilateral symmetry, indicating developmental stability or instability), coefficient of variation and plasticity of cotyledon size, to investigate the relationships among cotyledon developmental stability, canalization and plasticity in response to shading and deep burial.
Pivotal results.  
Pharbitis purpurea, Convolvulus arvensis and Carpesium abrotanoides had increased cotyledon size in response to shading at both burial depths; Abutilon theophrasti showed reduced cotyledon size in response to shading...