TY - JOUR
T1 - Seedling emergence of 144 subalpine meadow plants
T2 - Effects of phylogeny, life cycle type and seed mass
AU - Cao, Suzhen
AU - Liu, Kun
AU - Du, Guozhen
AU - Baskin, Jerry M.
AU - Baskin, Carol C.
AU - Bu, Haiyan
AU - Qi, Wei
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright Cambridge University Press 2018.
PY - 2018/3/1
Y1 - 2018/3/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - life cycle type
KW - phylogeny
KW - seed mass
KW - seedling emergence timing
KW - subalpine meadow
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U2 - 10.1017/S0960258518000028
DO - 10.1017/S0960258518000028
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85042695912
SN - 0960-2585
VL - 28
SP - 93
EP - 99
JO - Seed Science Research
JF - Seed Science Research
IS - 1
ER -