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SURVIVORSHIP AND FECUNDITY OF THE POLYCARPIC PERENNIAL MENTZELIA NUDA (LOASACEAE) IN NEBRASKA SANDHILLS PRAIRIE
Author(s) -
Keeler Kathleen H.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1987.tb08682.x
Subject(s) - survivorship curve , fecundity , biology , perennial plant , population , germination , botany , ecology , demography , cancer , genetics , sociology
Survivorship and fecundity of the polycarpic perennial Mentzelia nuda were investigated to help understand its population dynamics. Between 1978 and 1984, all 685 individuals found in a Nebraska sandhills prairie plot were marked and their fate followed. Three plants lived seven years, but the average lifespan was less than two years. Most plants spent their first year as nonflowering rosettes: only 9% flowered the first summer after germination. Overall, first‐year survivorship ranged from 0.20 to 0.50 between 1978 and 1984. Fifty‐two percent of rosettes survived to flower. Survivorship of flowering individuals was about the same as the survivorship of rosettes, although actual survivorships varied significantly between years. Both rainfall and age affected survivorship and fecundity.