Reproductive Attributes of Some Rocky Mountain Subalpine Herbs in Successional Context

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Great Basin Naturalist

Publication Date

1983

Volume

43

Issue

4

Abstract

Selected reproductive attributes of herbaceous plant species were compared among three stages of a sere in the subalpine zone of Utah’s Wasatch Mountains: herbaceous meadow, aspen grove, spruce-fir forest. No successional trends in seed size or inferred mode of seed dispersal were detected. We ascribe the deviation of these findings from those of most other studies to differences in climate, life-form composition, or community age between our sere and those of other studies. A variety of flower colors were found in the meadow stage, grading into a predominance of white flowers under conifers. Animal vectors of pollen, capable of effecting plant outcrossing, were most abundant in the meadows and an order of magnitude less abundant under aspen.

Comments

Originally published by Brigham Young University. Publisher's PDF available through remote link.

First Page

573

Last Page

578

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