Pattern of seedling emergence of alpine plants: Comparisons between fellfield and snowbed habitats (scientific note)

• Main Authors: Shimono,Yoshiko, Kudo,Gaku
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University/Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University 2001
• Subjects: Memoirs of National Institute of Polar Research; Polar Research
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=2400; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00002400/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=2400&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

We observed the germination pattern of alpine plants at a fellfield (three species) and a snowbed (four species) in relation to environmental differences between the habitats. Emergence patterns of seedlings varied among species within each habitat, especially at the fellfield, which has a relatively long growing season. At the fellfield, the peak of seedling emergence occurred early in the growing season for Potentilla matsumurae, mid-season for Patrinia sivirica, and late season for Bupleurum ranunculoides. At the snowbed, germination of Peucedanum multivittatum started immediately after snowmelt, germination of P. matsumurae and Primula cuneifolia were concentrated in early July, and germination of Arnica unalaschcensis was common in mid-July in 1998. Species which produced large seeds tended to have a short period for seedling growth, while species which produced small seeds tended to continue seedling growth as long as they could. Temperature requirements for germination of P. matsumurae differed between the habitats. Seeds in the snowbed population needed a warmer temperature regime for germination than seeds in the fellfield population. These results indicate that germination traits may differ between habitats even within the same species.