Seedling stage strategies as a means of habitat specialization in herbaceous plants.

ABSTRACT: The regeneration niche has been little investigated in studies of community assembly and plant distribution. We examined adaptive associations between seedling traits and habitat specialization. Two habitat contrasts were investigated across several evolutionary lineages of angiosperms: species specialized to forest vs. open habitats and to dry vs. wet habitats. We also tested whether effects of shade and drought vary independently or, alternatively, if shade may amplify effects on drought-stressed plants. Seedling response in terms of growth rate, height, slenderness, specific leaf area (SLA) and degree of elongation (longest internode; petiole or leaf-sheath depending on species' morphology) to light and watering treatments was assessed. We used a factorial design involving three light r

SUBMITTER: ten Brink DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3146528 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature