HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

First published online April 13, 2009; doi:10.3732/ajb.0800223 American Journal of Botany 96: 904-911 (2009) © 2009 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

What's this?

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: ajb.0800223v1 96/5/904    most recent Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Aragón, C. F. Articles by Escudero, A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Aragón, C. F. Articles by Escudero, A. Agricola Articles by Aragón, C. F. Articles by Escudero, A. Social Bookmarking                            What's this?

Survival costs of reproduction in a short-lived perennial plant: Live hard, die young¹

Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología, ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/ Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, E- 28933, Madrid, Spain

ABSTRACT

According to life-history theory, reproductive investments involve costs in terms of growth, future fecundity, and/or survival. However, studies to date have often failed to detect costs of reproduction, with survival costs among the less documented. We investigated the cost of reproduction in Helianthemum squamatum (Cistaceae), a short-lived perennial of semiarid Mediterranean environments. After experimental flower removal, we evaluated next season’s growth, reproduction, and survival of the plants. We also monitored an indicator of plant physiological status (F_v/F_m) and leaf nutrient concentration at key phenological stages during reproduction. Survival rate in deblossomed plants was significantly higher than in control plants. As far as we know, this is the first experimental evidence of a survival cost of reproduction in a perennial plant. In contrast, no cost to growth or reproduction was found during the next season, and no significant differences in F_v/F_m or leaf nutrients were found between control and deblossomed plants. Helianthemum squamatum’s success in semiarid Mediterranean ecosystems seems to rely on a persistent seed bank, combined with a sustained high reproductive output at the expense of survival. We conclude that this strategy might be more common than previously thought among short-lived shrubby plants growing in stressful Mediterranean areas.

Key Words: Cistaceae • cost of reproduction • Helianthemum squamatum • life-history theory • Mediterranean • reproductive phenology • semiarid • stress

Received for publication 2 July 2008. Accepted for publication 16 January 2009.

FOOTNOTES

¹ The authors warmly thank R. Molleja for help with field work, R. Torices for collaboration with the nutrient digestion procedure, and Y. Valiñani for technical assistance with the Skalar. They also thank two anonymous referees for their valuable comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Support of the research projects EXTREM (CGL2006-09431) and REMEDINAL (S-0505/AMB/0335) is gratefully acknowledged. C.F.A. held a F.P.U. fellowship (AP2003-3662, MEC, Spain).

² Author for correspondence (e-mail: cristina.fernandez.aragon{at}urjc.es), phone +34 914888288, fax: +34 916647490

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?