Winter is coming: plant freezing resistance as a key functional trait for the assembly of annual Mediterranean communities.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

In Mediterranean annual plants, germination mainly occurs during the autumn and only those seedlings that survive winter freezing can flower and produce seedlings in spring. Surprisingly, the effect of freezing events as an abiotic determinant of these communities remains unexplored. The present study aimed to investigate how freezing events affect annual Mediterranean communities and whether their functional structure as related to freezing resistance is linked to the main biotic and abiotic determinants of these communities.

Methods

In 120 plots located on a semi-arid Mediterranean steppe (Spain), the community functional structure related to the lethal temperature causing 50 % frost damage (LT50 trait) in seedlings was estimated and summarized as the c

SUBMITTER: Pescador DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5808800 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature