Assessing intraspecific variation in effective dispersal along an altitudinal gradient: a test in two Mediterranean high-mountain plants.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Plant recruitment depends among other factors on environmental conditions and their variation at different spatial scales. Characterizing dispersal in contrasting environments may thus be necessary to understand natural intraspecific variation in the processes underlying recruitment. Silene ciliata and Armeria caespitosa are two representative species of cryophilic pastures above the tree line in Mediterranean high mountains. No explicit estimations of dispersal kernels have been made so far for these or other high-mountain plants. Such data could help to predict their dispersal and recruitment patterns in a context of changing environments under ongoing global warming.

Methods

We used an inverse modelling approach to analyse effective seed dispersal patterns in f

SUBMITTER: Lara-Romero C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3906119 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature