Seed banks and seedling occurrence in a high Arctic oasis at Alexandra Fjord, Ellesmere Island, Canada
The sizes and floras of the seed banks and seedling communities are described for a variety of habitats in a high Arctic lowland oasis on Ellesmere Island, located at 79° N latitude. Four disturbed habitats had larger seed banks than did four undisturbed habitats (averaging 3070/m 2 vs. 63/m 2 ). Th...
| Published in: | Canadian Journal of Botany |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Canadian Science Publishing
1982
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b82-259 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b82-259 |
| Summary: | The sizes and floras of the seed banks and seedling communities are described for a variety of habitats in a high Arctic lowland oasis on Ellesmere Island, located at 79° N latitude. Four disturbed habitats had larger seed banks than did four undisturbed habitats (averaging 3070/m 2 vs. 63/m 2 ). The seedling densities measured in the disturbed habitats were also larger (1780/m 2 vs. 180/m 2 ). The data indicate that sexual reproduction is important to the herbaceous, short-lived, ruderal species which colonize disturbed sites in the high Arctic. This contrasts with the more conservative strategy of stress-tolerant species that occur in relatively closed and undisturbed habitats, which tend to propagate by vegetative mechanisms. |
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