Comparative Physiological Ecology of an Arctic and Alpine Population of Thalictrum Alpinum L.

• Published in: Ecology
• Main Authors: Mooney, H. A., Johnson, Albert W.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1965
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Population; Oxyria digyna; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1935012; http://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.2307%2F1935012; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.2307%2F1935012; https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2307/1935012

An ecological comparison was made between an alpine population of Thalictrum alpinum L. from the White Mountains of California and diploid and triploid plants of an arctic population from Ogotoruk Creek, Alaska. In a uniform environment plants of the alpine population were found to differ physiologically from the arctic plants in their photoperiod requirement, temperature of optimum photosynthesis, and photosynthetic light efficiency. Arctic triploid differed from diploid plants primarily in their greater vigor and photosynthetic capacity. Certain of the physiological differences between populations correlate with structural leaf characteristics, and are comparable to those previously found between arctic—alpine populations of Oxyria digyna. The ecological differences between the arctic chromosome r aces are discussed in relation to polyploid frequency in the arctic.