LTREB: Variance and Synchrony in Flowering and Dormancy of Iteroparous Perennial Wildflowers

University Of Montana, Missoula MT

Investigators

Abstract

Intellectual merit: We know extremely little about population dynamics of herbaceous perennial plants, and few studies monitor individuals and populations at appropriate the temporal scale (decades) to document or analyze patterns over time. Funds are requested to continue demographic monitoring of four iteroparous, perennial plants in semi-arid grasslands in western Montana and southwest Alberta: Astragalus scaphoides, Silene spaldingii, Potentilla recta, and Anenome patens. Continued monitoring will allow investigation of general mechanisms of reproduction, resource acquisition and population dynamics in herbaceous perennial plants. Initial analyses of data from. Ultimately, long-term demographic monitoring will be used to analyze the extent to which temporal patterns of flowering and dormancy are synchronous in each species and population. In addition, patterns predicted by models of ultimate evolutionary causes of synchrony will be tested, strength of feedback in individual resource dynamics will be determined, and predictions of population models based on individual resource dynamics to transition models based on above-ground plant size will be compared. These analyses will build relationships between individual allocation and demographic models of populations dynamics. In doing so, general ideas will be developed to explain mast-seeding in trees to mechanisms that could drive resource acquisition and reproduction in all plants that store resources over multiple years. Broader impacts: Herbaceous perennial plants are of great applied significance, because of the importance of grassland conservation, the need for weed management, and the possible environmental advantages of perennial crops for soil conservation and weed control. Observations of individual and population dynamics at decadal scales are central to understanding herbaceous plant population dynamics. In addition, each of the monitoring programs here involves demography or impacts of sensitive or invasive species, and can potentially improve our ability to manage specific species and populations. Finally, the majority of the requested funds are for summer undergraduate research interns, who will spend about 50% of their time participating in independent research and/or public outreach programs at the University of Montana, when not actively counting plants.