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Seedling emergence of 144 subalpine meadow plants: effects of phylogeny, life cycle type and seed mass

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2018

Suzhen Cao ,
Kun Liu ,
Guozhen Du ,
Jerry M. Baskin ,
Carol C. Baskin ,
Haiyan Bu  and
Wei Qi
Suzhen Cao
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-ecosystems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, People's Republic of China
Kun Liu*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-ecosystems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, People's Republic of China
Guozhen Du
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-ecosystems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, People's Republic of China
Jerry M. Baskin
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
Carol C. Baskin
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
Haiyan Bu
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-ecosystems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, People's Republic of China
Wei Qi
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-ecosystems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, People's Republic of China
*
Author for correspondence:*Kun Liu Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Timing of seedling emergence is a critical aspect of a plant's life cycle, and it may influence the expression of other plant life history traits. However, most studies have been conducted at the population level, and thus little is known about timing of seedling emergence at the community level. In the field, we determined the peak emergence season for seedlings of 144 species collected from a subalpine meadow on the eastern Tibet Plateau in China. The proportion of species with seedlings emerging in autumn, spring and summer, seedling field emergence percentage (FE) and mean emergence time (MET) were analysed in relation to seed mass, life cycle type (annual/biennial and perennial) and phylogeny. The results showed that (1) the proportion of species with seedlings emerging in autumn (33%), spring (44%) and summer (23%) differed significantly; (2) overall, species with seedlings emerging in autumn had higher FE than those emerging during spring/summer; (3) there was a positive relationship between log-seed mass and log-MET, but log-seed mass had no significant effect on log-FE; (4) life cycle type did not affect seedling emergence; and (5) phylogeny significantly explained peak emergence season. These results suggest that seed mass and phylogenetic position are the main determinants of seedling emergence season. However, seedling peak emergence season affected FE, growing season length and resource utilization, and thus may be related to the importance of a species in the community.

Keywords

life cycle typephylogenyseed massseedling emergence timingsubalpine meadow
Type
Research Papers
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , March 2018 , pp. 93 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

#

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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