scholarly journals The evolution of flowering phenology: an example from the wind-pollinated African Restionaceae

2020 ◽  
Vol 126 (7) ◽  
pp. 1141-1153
Author(s):  
H Peter Linder

Abstract Background and Aims Flowering phenology is arguably the most striking angiosperm phenophase. Although the response of species to climate change and the environmental correlates of the communities have received much attention, the interspecific evolution of flowering phenology has hardly been investigated. I explored this in the wind-pollinated dioecious Restionaceae (restios) of the hyperdiverse Cape flora, to disentangle the effects of phylogeny, traits, and biotic and abiotic environments on flowering time shifts. Methods I recorded the flowering times of 347 of the 351 species, mapped these over a 98 % complete phylogeny and inferred the evolutionary pattern and abiotic correlates of flowering time shifts. The patterns and biotic/abiotic correlates of restio community mean flowering time were explored using 934 plots. Key Results Restios flower throughout the year, with large spring and smaller autumn peaks. Species flowering time is evolutionarily labile, poorly explained by either the environment or traits of the species, with half of all sister species allochronic. Community mean flowering time is related to elevation, temperature and rainfall. Conclusions Flowering time shifts may result from assortative mating and allochronic speciation, possibly leading to non-adaptive radiation. However, community mean flowering time may be environmentally selected. Diversification of flowering time may be non-adaptive, but species could be filtered through survival in suitable communities.

Author(s):  
David J. Garbary ◽  
Jonathan Ferrier ◽  
Barry R. Taylor

Over 1400 flowering records of 135 species were recorded from over 125visits to more than 20 sites in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia from November2005 to January 2006, when the growing season is normally over. The speciesidentified were primarily herbaceous dicots; however, there were four speciesof woody plants (Cornus sericea, Spiraea latifolia, Symphoricarpos albusand Salix sp.) and one monocot (Allium schoenoprasum). The number ofspecies flowering declined linearly as fall progressed, as did the amountof flowering for each species. Nevertheless, over 40 species were still inflower in early December, and over 20 species flowered in January. Thefinal flowering date was 21 January, when ten species were found. Thiswork builds on a previous study in 2001, when 93 species were recordedin flower during November-December. In addition to the 30% increase inrecorded species in 2005, almost 50% of the species found in 2005 werenot recorded in 2001. This study provides an expanded baseline againstwhich changes in flowering phenology can be evaluated with respect tosubsequent regional climate change.Key Words: Antigonish, flowering, Nova Scotia, phenology, climate change


2015 ◽  
Vol 209-210 ◽  
pp. 11-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Wang ◽  
De Li Liu ◽  
Senthold Asseng ◽  
Ian Macadam ◽  
Qiang Yu

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1743) ◽  
pp. 3843-3852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill T. Anderson ◽  
David W. Inouye ◽  
Amy M. McKinney ◽  
Robert I. Colautti ◽  
Tom Mitchell-Olds

Anthropogenic climate change has already altered the timing of major life-history transitions, such as the initiation of reproduction. Both phenotypic plasticity and adaptive evolution can underlie rapid phenological shifts in response to climate change, but their relative contributions are poorly understood. Here, we combine a continuous 38 year field survey with quantitative genetic field experiments to assess adaptation in the context of climate change. We focused on Boechera stricta (Brassicaeae), a mustard native to the US Rocky Mountains. Flowering phenology advanced significantly from 1973 to 2011, and was strongly associated with warmer temperatures and earlier snowmelt dates. Strong directional selection favoured earlier flowering in contemporary environments (2010–2011). Climate change could drive this directional selection, and promote even earlier flowering as temperatures continue to increase. Our quantitative genetic analyses predict a response to selection of 0.2 to 0.5 days acceleration in flowering per generation, which could account for more than 20 per cent of the phenological change observed in the long-term dataset. However, the strength of directional selection and the predicted evolutionary response are likely much greater now than even 30 years ago because of rapidly changing climatic conditions. We predict that adaptation will likely be necessary for long-term in situ persistence in the context of climate change.


2008 ◽  
Vol 276 (1658) ◽  
pp. 935-943 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Forrest ◽  
James D Thomson

Environmental changes, such as current climate warming, can exert directional selection on reproductive phenology. In plants, evolution of earlier flowering requires that the individuals bearing genes for early flowering successfully reproduce; for non-selfing, zoophilous species, this means that early flowering individuals must be visited by pollinators. In a laboratory experiment with artificial flowers, we presented captive bumble-bees ( Bombus impatiens ) with flower arrays representing stages in the phenological progression of a two-species plant community: Bees that had been foraging on flowers of one colour were confronted with increasing numbers of flowers of a second colour. Early flowering individuals of the second ‘species’ were significantly under-visited, because bees avoided unfamiliar flowers, particularly when these were rare. We incorporated these aspects of bee foraging behaviour (neophobia and positive frequency dependence) in a simulation model of flowering-time evolution for a plant population experiencing selection against late flowering. Unlike simple frequency dependence, a lag in pollinator visitation prevented the plant population from responding to selection and led to declines in population size. Pollinator behaviour thus has the potential to constrain evolutionary adjustments of flowering phenology.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (06) ◽  
pp. 1630
Author(s):  
Amalaurpava Mary Michael* ◽  
Gopal G.V.

Climate change may influence the composition of plant communities by affecting the reproduction, growth, establishment and local extinction of plant species. Predicting the effect of climate change may provide insight into the impact and relationship between weather pattern and flowering phenology in long term studies. Pollen viability is one important factor of reproduction. Pollen viability is essential for a good fruit set. The study is undertaken to evaluate the influence of temperature and rainfall fluctuation pattern on floral phenology and pollen viability in the restricted distribution of the plant Ehretia pubescens Benth. Field observation on floral phenology has revealed changes occurring in the pollen viability with the change of temperature and rainfall. The plants show drought resistant; however, it is observed that it blooms immediately after the rainfall. Change in the rainfall pattern results in change in flowering pattern. On the natural habitat fruit set is a good indicating of good germinability of pollen grain in vivo. In vitro pollen germinability is less efficient for this species as supported by the data.


2017 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Anna Maria Fosaa ◽  
Olivia Danielsen ◽  
Herborg Nyholm Debes

<p><strong>Úrtak</strong></p><p>Í níggju ár kannaðu vit, á hvønn hátt experimentel hiting ávirkar tey ymisku stigini í blómingini hjá leggstuttari túvublómu, <em>Silene acaulis </em>í Føroyum. Hitin varð experimentelt øktur við smáum sekshyrntum vakstrarhúsum, ið eru gjørd úr polycarbonate. Tey eru opin í erva og tí navnið „Open top Champers“ (OTC). Kanningarnar vórðu gjørdar í fjallaøki í 600 m hædd, har blómustigini hjá leggstuttari túvublómu regluliga vórðu mátað í vakstrartíðini frá mai til juli mánað í tíggju OTC og tíggju kontrollum. Kanningarnar, ið vit skriva um í hesi grein, eru frá 2001 og hvørt ár frá 2007­2010. Vit skrivaðu upp tíðarskeiðið, tá fyrsti blómuknubbin var sjónligur, tíðarskeiðið tá fyrsta blóman var útsprungin, tá fyrsta og seinasta   krúnublað   følnaði. Kanningarnar eru ein partur av altjóða samstarvinum „International   Tundra   Experiment“ ITEX, ið er eitt samstarv millum fleiri støð serliga á norðraru hálvu, har kanningar verða gjørdar. Kanningarnar  hava  til  endamáls  at  granska árinið av veðurlagsbroytingum á plantuvøkstur. Úrslitini frá hesari kanning vísa greiðar munir millum OTC og kontrollarnar. Sum heild komu øll stigini í blómingini umleið eina viku fyrr í OTC enn í kontrollunum. Longdin á øllum blómingartíðarskeiðinum var ikki ymisk í OTC og kontrollunum. Okkara OTC øktu bara hitan umleið 1°C um summarið og broyttu neyvan vetrarhitan. Hetta og ymisk onnur viðurskifti gera, at úrslitini ikki siga okkum alla søguna um broytingarnar í føroyskum plantuvøkstri, sum fara at koma av globalu upphitingini.</p><p> </p><p><strong>A</strong><strong>bstract</strong></p><p>Over a period of nine years we studied the influence of experimental warming on the flowering  phenology  of  Moss  Campion<strong>, </strong><em>Silene acaulis </em>in the Faroes. The temperature was experimentally elevated with hexagonal greenhouses called open top chambers (OTC´s) made by polycarbonate. The experiment was conducted in an alpine area at 600 m a.s.l. where the flowering stage of <em>Silene acaulis </em>was measured regularly during the growing season from May to July in ten OTC´s and ten control plots. In this paper, we present observations from 2001 and every year from 2007  to  2010. We  measured  four  events  in the flowering stage: first visible bud (FB), first flowering  date  (FO),  first petal  drop (FPD) and last petal drop (LPD). This experiment is a part of „The International Tundra Experiment“ (ITEX) that is a collaborative, multisite experiment using a common temperature manipulation to examine the influence of climate change on vegetation. The results from our experiment showed statistically significant changes between the OTC´s and the control plots for all four events. Typically, the events occurred about one week earlier in the OTC´s. The length of the flowering period from FB to LPD was not significally different in the OTC´s from the control plots. The warming induced by the OTC´s in our experiment was only about 1oC in the summer and less than that in the winter. This and other confounding effects such as sheltering imply that care should be taken when using our results to predict phenological in the Faroes changes induced by global warming.</p>


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