| 1. |
- Ehrlén, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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How perennial are perennial plants?
- 2002
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Ingår i: Oikos. - : Wiley. - 0030-1299 .- 1600-0706. ; 98:2, s. 308-322
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Trade-offs involving life span are important in the molding of plant life histories. However, the empirical examination of such patterns has so far been limited by the fact that information on life span is mainly available in terms of discrete categories; annuals, semelparous perennials and iteroparous perennials. We used transition matrix models to project continuous estimates of conditional life spans from published information on size- or stage-structured demography for 71 perennial plant species. The projected life span ranged from 4.3 to 988.6 years and more than half of the species had a life span of more than 35 years. Woody plants had on average a projected life span more than four times as long as non-woody plants. Life spans were higher in forests than in open habitats and individuals of non-clonal species tended to have a longer life span than ramets of clonal species. Self-incompatible plants on average lived longer than self-compatible plants. There were no clear relations between life span and geographical region, dispersal syndrome, pollination mode, seed size or the presence of a seed bank. We conclude that accurate estimates of life span are central to understand how longevity is correlated to other traits within the group of perennial plants.
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| 2. |
- Ehrlén, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Pollen limitation, seed predation and scape length in Primula farinosa
- 2002
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Ingår i: Oikos. - : Wiley. - 0030-1299 .- 1600-0706. ; 97:1, s. 45-51
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Floral display and reward production may affect the attractiveness of a plant to a range of interacting animals including pollinators, herbivores, and vectors of pathogenic fungi. The optimal floral phenotype should therefore depend on the relative importance of selection exerted by both mutualistic and antagonistic animals. The perennial, rosette herb Primula farinosa is polymorphic for scape length. Natural populations may include both plants with flowers displayed well above the ground (the long-scaped morph) and those with flowers positioned very close to the ground (the short-scaped morph). In this study, we conducted a field experiment to examine how the relative fitness of the two scape morphs is affected by interactions with pollinators and fruit predators in two different microhabitats (high and low vegetation). As predicted based on the difference in floral display, supplemental hand-pollination showed that fruit initiation was more strongly pollen-limited in the short-scaped than in the long-scaped morph, and that this difference was significantly larger in high than in low vegetation. Moreover, plants with a short scape experienced lower levels of fruit predation than plants with a long scape. Among open-pollinated controls, there was no significant difference in seed output between the two scape morphs. However, among plants receiving supplemental hand-pollination, short-scaped plants produced significantly more seeds than long-scaped plants. The results suggest that the positive and negative effects of a prominent floral display (increased pollination and seed predation, respectively) balance in the study population, but also that the short-scaped morph would have an advantage at higher pollination intensities. Spatial and temporal variation in pollinator activity and seed predation should result in associated variation in the relative fecundity of the two scape morphs.
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| 3. |
- Leimu, Roosa, et al.
(författare)
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Pre-dispersal seed predation in Primula veris : among-population variation in damage intensity and selection on flower number
- 2002
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Ingår i: Oecologia. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0029-8549 .- 1432-1939. ; 133:4, s. 510-516
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The geographic mosaic theory of co-evolution states that evolution of interactions is driven by geographical variation in interactions between species. We investigated whether the intensity of pre-dispersal seed predation differed among nine Primula veris populations over 5 years, and whether such differences lead to geographical variation in selection on flower number. Seed predation intensity differed significantly among years and populations, and it increased with canopy closure and decreased with the density of the field layer vegetation. Individuals in open habitats also produced the highest number of flowers. Moreover, the phenotypic selection on flower number differed among years and populations. In populations of closed habitats, with high seed predation pressure, the increased number of flowers was often correlated with an increased number of damaged capsules. However, an increased flower number did not result in fewer intact fruits due to seed predation in any population.
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| 4. |
- Lindborg, Regina, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluating the extinction risk of a perennial herb : demographic data versus historical records
- 2002
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Ingår i: Conservation Biology. - : Wiley. - 0888-8892 .- 1523-1739. ; 16:3, s. 683-690
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Demographic information is frequently used to project the long-term extinction risk of endangered species, but the limitations of this approach have not been extensively discussed. We examined demographic data for the endangered perennial herb Primula farinosa with matrix models to assess population growth rates and extinction risks. The data came from six populations in contrasting habitats followed over a 4-year period. The results of these demographic models were compared to the results of experimental manipulations and to the actual change in occurrence of P. farinosa over a 70-year period in different habitat types. According to demographic models, all managed populations had a projected negative population growth rate and experienced a high extinction risk in 100 years, whereas unmanaged populations had increasing population sizes. In contrast, experiments and historical records suggested that continuous grazing is positively correlated with population persistence. Our results thus show that demographic studies done during a transient phase of population growth after management cessation may not capture the long-term changes. In such cases, projections of population growth rates may give misleading guidance for conservation. Short-term demographic studies are in many cases unlikely to correctly assess the survival probability of a species. We therefore argue that complementary information, such as long-term historical data or experimental manipulations of the environment, should be used whenever possible.
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