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Tiller demography in seashore populations of Agrostis stolonifera, Festuca rubra and Poa irrigata
Author(s) -
Jónsdóttir Gudrun A.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of vegetation science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1654-1103
pISSN - 1100-9233
DOI - 10.2307/3235900
Subject(s) - agrostis stolonifera , biology , festuca rubra , tiller (botany) , perennial plant , poa pratensis , population , agrostis , agronomy , botany , ecology , poaceae , demography , sociology
. The dynamics of tillers in natural populations of three cohabiting perennial grass species, Agrostis stolonifera, Festuca rubra and Poa irrigata (= Poa pratensis ssp. irrigata) were studied for five years in a Baltic seashore meadow. The process of tiller population maintenance was very dynamic. Both birth and death rates of tillers were high, particularly in A stolonifera , and the turnover rate of the populations was high. Recruitment was mainly by vegetative tillers, produced continuously throughout the growing season. The proportion of flowering tillers was low, but varied between years. Considerable year‐to‐year variation was also found in birth and death rates. Despite this between‐year variation and the differences found between species in flowering frequency, pattern of survivorship and tiller longevity, population sizes of the species remained relatively constant.