| Abstract Detail
Ecological Section Merrill, Katherine T. [1], Meyer, Susan E. [1], Smith, Duane [2]. Patterns of Flowering Phenology for Montane Perennials in a Low Elevation Common Garden. Flowering phenology is thought to be regulated through the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Allowing plants to flower in a common garden environment that contrasts with the environment of origin is one way to examine the elements of this interaction. Seeds (2-3 accessions each) of Geranium viscosissimum, Chamerion angustifolium, Erigeron speciosus, Iliamna rivularis, Castilleja miniata, Delphinium barbeyi, Eriogonum heracleoides, Polemonium foliosissimum, Potentilla glanduosa and Potentilla gracilis were collected from montane areas within the Intermountain West during 2005. Seeds were germinated and plants grown out in a greenhouse during the winter and spring for outplanting in an agronomic setting at a mesic valley site in early summer of 2006. During the 2007 growing season, data were collected weekly on flowering phenology and pollinator activity. Only four species (Geranium viscosissimum, Chamerion angustifolium, Erigeron speciosus, and Iliamna rivularis) grew and produced seed well during the second year in the common garden. Flowering usually occurred much earlier in the common garden than in the wild, indicating regulation of flowering time through degree-day accumulation. Even accessions within species that had widely different flowering times in the wild tended to flower synchronously in the garden. The length of time between the flowering peak and the peak production of mature fruit varied by species with the slowest having a six week interval, and the fastest with a one week interval. Insect pollinators visited flowers of each species in direct proportion to the magnitude of the floral display.
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1 - USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Shrub Sciences Laboratory, 735 N 500 E, Provo, Utah, 84606, USA
2 - Brigham Young University, Plant and Wildlife Sciences, 287 Widtsoe Building, Provo, Utah, 84602 , United States
Keywords:
flowering phenology
montane perennials
common garden.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for BSA Sections
Session: 24
Location: Wasatch B/Cliff Lodge - Level C
Date: Monday, July 27th, 2009
Time: 1:30 PM
Number: 24001
Abstract ID:494 |
