Conifer seedling recruitment across a gradient from forest to alpine tundra: effects of species, provenance, and site
Background: Seedling germination and survival is a critical control on forest ecosystem boundaries, such as at the alpine-treeline ecotone. In addition, while it is known that species respond individualistically to the same suite of environmental drivers, the potential additional effect of local ada...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt42q4t759 2023-06-11T04:17:24+02:00 Conifer seedling recruitment across a gradient from forest to alpine tundra: effects of species, provenance, and site Castanha, C Torn, MS Germino, MJ Weibel, B Kueppers, LM 307 - 318 2013-12-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/42q4t759 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt42q4t759 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/42q4t759 public Plant Ecology & Diversity, vol 6, iss 3-4 Life on Land common garden climate gradient local adaptation Picea engelmannii Pinus flexilis seedling emergence seedling recruitment species range boundaries subalpine forest treeline Ecological Applications Ecology Plant Biology article 2013 ftcdlib 2023-05-29T17:59:51Z Background: Seedling germination and survival is a critical control on forest ecosystem boundaries, such as at the alpine-treeline ecotone. In addition, while it is known that species respond individualistically to the same suite of environmental drivers, the potential additional effect of local adaptation on seedling success has not been evaluated. Aims: To determine whether local adaptation may influence the position and movement of forest ecosystem boundaries, we quantified conifer seedling recruitment in common gardens across a subalpine forest to alpine tundra gradient at Niwot Ridge, Colorado, USA. Methods: We studied Pinus flexilis and Picea engelmannii grown from seed collected locally at High (3400 m a.s.l.) and Low (3060 m a.s.l.) elevations. We monitored emergence and survival of seeds sown directly into plots and survival of seedlings germinated indoors and transplanted after snowmelt. Results: Emergence and survival through the first growing season was greater for P. flexilis than P. engelmannii and for Low compared with High provenances. Yet survival through the second growing season was similar for both species and provenances. Seedling emergence and survival tended to be greatest in the subalpine forest and lowest in the alpine tundra. Survival was greater for transplants than for field-germinated seedlings. Conclusions: These results suggest that survival through the first few weeks is critical to the establishment of natural germinants. In addition, even small distances between seed sources can have a significant effect on early demographic performance - a factor that has rarely been considered in previous studies of tree recruitment and species range shifts. © 2013 The work of C. Castanha, M.S. Torn, and L.M. Kueppers was conducted at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. Government retains, and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges, that the U.S. Government retains a ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Tundra University of California: eScholarship |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Life on Land common garden climate gradient local adaptation Picea engelmannii Pinus flexilis seedling emergence seedling recruitment species range boundaries subalpine forest treeline Ecological Applications Ecology Plant Biology |
spellingShingle |
Life on Land common garden climate gradient local adaptation Picea engelmannii Pinus flexilis seedling emergence seedling recruitment species range boundaries subalpine forest treeline Ecological Applications Ecology Plant Biology Castanha, C Torn, MS Germino, MJ Weibel, B Kueppers, LM Conifer seedling recruitment across a gradient from forest to alpine tundra: effects of species, provenance, and site |
topic_facet |
Life on Land common garden climate gradient local adaptation Picea engelmannii Pinus flexilis seedling emergence seedling recruitment species range boundaries subalpine forest treeline Ecological Applications Ecology Plant Biology |
description |
Background: Seedling germination and survival is a critical control on forest ecosystem boundaries, such as at the alpine-treeline ecotone. In addition, while it is known that species respond individualistically to the same suite of environmental drivers, the potential additional effect of local adaptation on seedling success has not been evaluated. Aims: To determine whether local adaptation may influence the position and movement of forest ecosystem boundaries, we quantified conifer seedling recruitment in common gardens across a subalpine forest to alpine tundra gradient at Niwot Ridge, Colorado, USA. Methods: We studied Pinus flexilis and Picea engelmannii grown from seed collected locally at High (3400 m a.s.l.) and Low (3060 m a.s.l.) elevations. We monitored emergence and survival of seeds sown directly into plots and survival of seedlings germinated indoors and transplanted after snowmelt. Results: Emergence and survival through the first growing season was greater for P. flexilis than P. engelmannii and for Low compared with High provenances. Yet survival through the second growing season was similar for both species and provenances. Seedling emergence and survival tended to be greatest in the subalpine forest and lowest in the alpine tundra. Survival was greater for transplants than for field-germinated seedlings. Conclusions: These results suggest that survival through the first few weeks is critical to the establishment of natural germinants. In addition, even small distances between seed sources can have a significant effect on early demographic performance - a factor that has rarely been considered in previous studies of tree recruitment and species range shifts. © 2013 The work of C. Castanha, M.S. Torn, and L.M. Kueppers was conducted at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. Government retains, and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges, that the U.S. Government retains a ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Castanha, C Torn, MS Germino, MJ Weibel, B Kueppers, LM |
author_facet |
Castanha, C Torn, MS Germino, MJ Weibel, B Kueppers, LM |
author_sort |
Castanha, C |
title |
Conifer seedling recruitment across a gradient from forest to alpine tundra: effects of species, provenance, and site |
title_short |
Conifer seedling recruitment across a gradient from forest to alpine tundra: effects of species, provenance, and site |
title_full |
Conifer seedling recruitment across a gradient from forest to alpine tundra: effects of species, provenance, and site |
title_fullStr |
Conifer seedling recruitment across a gradient from forest to alpine tundra: effects of species, provenance, and site |
title_full_unstemmed |
Conifer seedling recruitment across a gradient from forest to alpine tundra: effects of species, provenance, and site |
title_sort |
conifer seedling recruitment across a gradient from forest to alpine tundra: effects of species, provenance, and site |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/42q4t759 |
op_coverage |
307 - 318 |
genre |
Tundra |
genre_facet |
Tundra |
op_source |
Plant Ecology & Diversity, vol 6, iss 3-4 |
op_relation |
qt42q4t759 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/42q4t759 |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1768376538749730816 |