Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/561
Title: Variation in Summer Dormancy in the Lilioid Geophyte Burchardia Umbellata (Colchicaceae)
Contributor(s): Vaughton, GV  (author); Ramsey, MW (author)
Publication Date: 2001
Open Access: Yes
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/561
Abstract: Plant dormancy is a form of phenotypic plasticity that minimizes exposure to seasonally stressful conditions. We examined variationin summer dormancy in two highland and two lowland populations of the lilioid geophyte Burchardia umbellata to test the predictionthat facultative dormancy is advantageous in habitats with variable summer conditions. Consistent with this prediction fewer highlandplants than lowland plants became dormant under wet common garden conditions. Also, significant among-family variance occurredwithin highland but not lowland populations, indicating genetic differences among and within populations. Most lowland plants becamedormant when exposed to wet or dry conditions (;92%), indicating that dormancy was primarily obligate. In contrast, dormancy inhighland plants increased from 44% under wet conditions to 93% under dry conditions, indicating that dormancy of some highlandplants was facultative and induced by drought. Survival, growth, and flowering were reduced in lowland populations, and in dormantvs. nondormant highland plants, indicating costs of dormancy that could negate the advantages of dormancy under variable summerconditions. Summers in lowland populations are predictably hot and dry, favoring a phenotype that responds invariably to environmentalcues that are correlated to future dry conditions. In highland populations, variable summer conditions probably maintain polymorphismin dormancy.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: American Journal of Botany, 88(7), p. 1223-1229
Publisher: Botanical Society of America
Place of Publication: United States of America
ISSN: 1537-2197
0002-9122
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 060299 Ecology not elsewhere classified
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Publisher/associated links: http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/88/7/1223
Appears in Collections:Journal Article

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