Performance and phenology of alpine herbs along a snow‐melting gradient

Kudo, Gaku

doi:10.1007/bf02347098

Cited by 42 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The highest diversity appeared in the plots with intermediate depth of snow (class III and class IV). Kudo (1991Kudo ( 1992 and Kudo et al (1992) also found that plant species richness decreased in micro-sites where plants emerged very late from snow cover. This decline in the plots covered by deep snow might be due to the fact that only a subset of species could tolerate the conditions within a late snow bed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Effect of snow-cover duration on plant species diversity of alpine meadows on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Chen

et al. 2008

J. Mt. Sci.

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Abstract:Although snow cover plays an important role in structuring plant diversity in the alpine zone, there are few studies on the relationship between snow cover and species diversity of alpine meadows on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. To assess the effect of snow cover on plant species diversity of alpine meadows, we used ten parallel transects of 60 m × 1 m for this study and described the changes in species diversity and composition associated with snow depth. With the division of snow depth into six classes, the highest species richness (S) and species diversity (H′) occurred with an intermediate snow depth, i.e., class III and class IV, showing a unimodal curve with the increase in snow depth. The relationship between snow depth and plant diversity (both richness and Shannon index) could be depicted by quadratic equations. There was no evident relationship between diversity (both S and H′) and soil water content, which implied that other more important factors influenced species diversity. The patterns of diversity found in our study were largely attributed to freeze-thaw alteration, length of growing season and disturbances of livestock grazing. Furthermore, snow depth affected species composition, as evaluated by the Sørensen's index of similarity. In addition, almost all species limited to one snow depth class were found only in class III and class IV, indicating that intermediate snow depth was suitable for the survival and growth of many alpine species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Effect of snow-cover duration on plant species diversity of alpine meadows on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Chen

et al. 2008

J. Mt. Sci.

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“…A 1-month shift in phenology imposes a strong barrier to pollen flow between microhabitats, as S. herbacea flowers are only receptive to pollen for approximately 2 weeks (Beerling, 1998). Strong flowering time differentiation within short distances is not uncommon and has been reported in snowmelt gradients in Scandinavia for S. herbacea (Wijk, 1986b) and in other alpine species (Kudo, 1992;Kudo and Ito, 1992;Jones et al, 1997;Kudo et al, 1999;Shimono and Kudo, 2005;Hirao and Kudo, 2008;Shimono et al, 2009;Wipf et al, 2009;Elmendorf et al, 2012). Some of these exhibit genetically differentiated, phenologically isolated subpopulations Yamagishi et al, 2005;Hirao and Kudo, 2008;Shimono et al, 2009).…”

Section: Snowmelt Differences Results In Phenological Isolation But Nomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In comparison, late-lying snow in depressions offers protection against these spring and early summer frost events but leads to shorter growing seasons. This abiotic complexity caused by the irregular distribution of winter snow results in pronounced differences in plant growth and performance on a fine spatial scale (Scherrer and Körner, 2011), for example, in growth (Wijk, 1986a;Kudo et al, 1999;Dietz et al, 2004), germination (Wijk, 1986b;Kudo, 1992;Shimono and Kudo, 2005) and phenology (Kudo, 1992;Kudo and Hirao, 2006;Shimono et al, 2009). For instance, leaf production and shoot growth in Vaccinium vitis-idaea and Empetrum hermaphroditum were found to be limited on early-snowmelt ridges (Kudo et al, 1999), and germination and flowering in Peucedanum multivittatum were found to be delayed in the snowbeds (Shimono and Kudo, 2005;Kudo and Hirao, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small-scale patterns in snowmelt timing affect gene flow and the distribution of genetic diversity in the alpine dwarf shrub Salix herbacea

et al. 2014

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Current threats to biodiversity, such as climate change, are thought to alter the within-species genetic diversity among microhabitats in highly heterogeneous alpine environments. Assessing the spatial organization and dynamics of genetic diversity within species can help to predict the responses of organisms to environmental change. In this study, we evaluated whether small-scale heterogeneity in snowmelt timing restricts gene flow between microhabitats in the common long-lived dwarf shrub Salix herbacea L. We surveyed 273 genets across 12 early-and late-snowmelt sites (that is, ridges and snowbeds) in the Swiss Alps for phenological variation over 2 years and for genetic variation using seven SSR markers. Phenological differentiation triggered by differences in snowmelt timing did not correlate with genetic differentiation between microhabitats. On the contrary, extensive gene flow appeared to occur between microhabitats and slightly less extensively among adjacent mountains. However, ridges exhibited significantly lower levels of genetic diversity than snowbeds, and patterns of effective population size (N e ) and migration (N e m) between microhabitats were strongly asymmetric, with ridges acting as sources and snowbeds as sinks. As no recent genetic bottlenecks were detected in the studied sites, this asymmetry is likely to reflect current metapopulation dynamics of the species dominated by gene flow via seeds rather than ancient re-colonization after the last glacial period. Overall, our results suggest that seed dispersal prevents snowmelt-driven genetic isolation, and snowbeds act as sinks of genetic diversity. We discuss the consequences of such small-scale variation in gene flow and diversity levels for population responses to climate change.

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“…Although the optimal defense ratio is independent of T, the average defense ratio thus increases as T increases in case (ii) and case (iii). Kudo (1991Kudo ( , 1992 examined phenological responses of alpine plants to the time span of a snow-free period by setting quadrats along a snow-melt gradient. He found that contraction of the snow-free period reduces flowering and seeding rates, but did not study the variation of defense patterns adequately.…”

Section: Implication For Conventional Theoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal strategy of plant antiherbivore defense: Implications for apparency and resource‐availability theories

Yamamura

Tsuji

1995

Ecological Research

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Plants produce chemicals as methods against animal herbivory. Such chemical defenses are dassified into two major categories: (i) quantitative defenses with massive production of indigestible substances; and (ii) qualitative defenses with production of poisonous substances. A mathematical model was developed that identified factors that favored the evolution of quantitative defenses. Selecting an annual plant for simplicity, the allocation of photosynthetic production between growth substances and defense substances was considered. If the plant invests more in defense substances, it can protect itself more efficiently from herbivory but with a reduced growth rate. If it invests more in growth substances, the contrary holds. Using Pontoryagin's maximum principle, the following results were obtained: (i) the plant should conduct quantitative defenses when the growth rate (G), reflecting resource-availability, is low and the growth period (T) is long as well; (ii) if the plant invests in quantitative defenses, the optimal proportion of defense substances (x*) should be higher as G is smaller, but it is independent of T; and (iii) the value of x * is not monotone for the effectiveness of defense substance (A), but has a maximum at an intermediate value of A. Predictions of the modal partly supported both Feeny's apparency theory, claiming that apparent plants or their parts for herbivores should quantitatively defend themselves, and Coley's resource-availability theory, claiming that plants with rich resources should invest in growth rather than defense.

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Performance and phenology of alpine herbs along a snow‐melting gradient

Cited by 42 publications

References 20 publications

Effect of snow-cover duration on plant species diversity of alpine meadows on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Effect of snow-cover duration on plant species diversity of alpine meadows on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Small-scale patterns in snowmelt timing affect gene flow and the distribution of genetic diversity in the alpine dwarf shrub Salix herbacea

Optimal strategy of plant antiherbivore defense: Implications for apparency and resource‐availability theories

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