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Progenesis as an Adaptive Strategy in the Annual Fern Ceratopteris thalictroides in Japan
Author(s) -
MASUYAMA SHIGEO
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
plant species biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.419
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1442-1984
pISSN - 0913-557X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-1984.1996.tb00149.x
Subject(s) - heterochrony , sporophyte , biology , fern , biological dispersal , period (music) , botany , ecology , population , demography , ontogeny , genetics , sociology , physics , acoustics
To see the regional variation of Japanese Ceratopteris thalictroides in the mode of vegetative growth of sporophytes, offspring sporophytes of 12 local populations were cultivated under long day, short day, and low temperature conditions. In contrast to sporophytes of southern populations, those of northern populations exhibited a strong tendency to form fertile leaves with a short period of vegetative growth. From morphological analyses of sterile leaves, four patterns were recognized in the shortening of the vegetative‐growth period: one is shortening by a variation ofacceleration, a type of heterochrony, and the remaining three are shortening by progenesis, another type of heterochrony, linked to the long day, the short day, or low temperature. Since the period during which sporophytes of C. thalictroides can grow is shorter in higher latitudes in Japan, heterochrony, especially progenesis, in northern populations is regarded as an adaptive strategy of this species to expand its distribution towards the north.