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Population Dynamics and Life History of Euphorbia rosescens, a Perennial Herb Endemic to Florida Scrub
Euphorbia rosescens is a recently described plant that is narrowly endemic to the Lake Wales Ridge. Little is known of the ecology or life history of this diminutive, deeply rooted polygamodioecious perennial. We studied 13 subpopulations of this species from 2004–2012 from five habitats, sampling m...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2016
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4959700/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27454519 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0160014 |
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author | Smith, Stacy A. Menges, Eric S. |
author_facet | Smith, Stacy A. Menges, Eric S. |
author_sort | Smith, Stacy A. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Euphorbia rosescens is a recently described plant that is narrowly endemic to the Lake Wales Ridge. Little is known of the ecology or life history of this diminutive, deeply rooted polygamodioecious perennial. We studied 13 subpopulations of this species from 2004–2012 from five habitats, sampling monthly during its growing season. Subpopulations were stable year-to-year with annual survivals > 90%, but with considerable within-year dynamics, peaking in density in April and dying back in the fall and winter. Stem densities did not vary among subpopulations, habitats, or by subpopulation gender. Annual plant dormancy was common and decreased subsequent survival. Belowground biomass averaged almost 50 times higher than aboveground biomass. Subpopulations either consisted of entirely female individuals or a mixture of male and functionally andromonoecious individuals and these subpopulation genders remained stable across years. Overall, flowering has been dominated by female plants. Plants produced modest numbers of inflorescences (cyathia), and fruit production was very low. Although most plants survived fire by resprouting, fire decreased survival and had a short-term positive effect on floral production. Lack of fecundity and recruitment are concerns for this state-endangered species, but more information is needed on its breeding system and clonality to make specific management recommendations. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4959700 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2016 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-49597002016-08-08 Population Dynamics and Life History of Euphorbia rosescens, a Perennial Herb Endemic to Florida Scrub Smith, Stacy A. Menges, Eric S. PLoS One Research Article Euphorbia rosescens is a recently described plant that is narrowly endemic to the Lake Wales Ridge. Little is known of the ecology or life history of this diminutive, deeply rooted polygamodioecious perennial. We studied 13 subpopulations of this species from 2004–2012 from five habitats, sampling monthly during its growing season. Subpopulations were stable year-to-year with annual survivals > 90%, but with considerable within-year dynamics, peaking in density in April and dying back in the fall and winter. Stem densities did not vary among subpopulations, habitats, or by subpopulation gender. Annual plant dormancy was common and decreased subsequent survival. Belowground biomass averaged almost 50 times higher than aboveground biomass. Subpopulations either consisted of entirely female individuals or a mixture of male and functionally andromonoecious individuals and these subpopulation genders remained stable across years. Overall, flowering has been dominated by female plants. Plants produced modest numbers of inflorescences (cyathia), and fruit production was very low. Although most plants survived fire by resprouting, fire decreased survival and had a short-term positive effect on floral production. Lack of fecundity and recruitment are concerns for this state-endangered species, but more information is needed on its breeding system and clonality to make specific management recommendations. Public Library of Science 2016-07-25 /pmc/articles/PMC4959700/ /pubmed/27454519 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0160014 Text en © 2016 Smith, Menges http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Smith, Stacy A. Menges, Eric S. Population Dynamics and Life History of Euphorbia rosescens, a Perennial Herb Endemic to Florida Scrub |
title | Population Dynamics and Life History of Euphorbia rosescens, a Perennial Herb Endemic to Florida Scrub |
title_full | Population Dynamics and Life History of Euphorbia rosescens, a Perennial Herb Endemic to Florida Scrub |
title_fullStr | Population Dynamics and Life History of Euphorbia rosescens, a Perennial Herb Endemic to Florida Scrub |
title_full_unstemmed | Population Dynamics and Life History of Euphorbia rosescens, a Perennial Herb Endemic to Florida Scrub |
title_short | Population Dynamics and Life History of Euphorbia rosescens, a Perennial Herb Endemic to Florida Scrub |
title_sort | population dynamics and life history of euphorbia rosescens, a perennial herb endemic to florida scrub |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4959700/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27454519 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0160014 |
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