Effects of cold treatments on fitness and mode of reproduction in the diploid and polyploid alpine plant Ranunculus kuepferi (Ranunculaceae).

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Alpine plants grow in harsh environments and are thought to face occasional frost during the sensitive reproductive phase. Apomixis (asexual reproduction via seed) can be advantageous when sexual reproduction is disturbed by cold stress. Apomictic polyploids tend to grow in colder climates than their sexual diploid relatives. Whether cold temperatures actually induce apomixis was unknown to date.

Methods

We tested experimentally in climate cabinets for effects of low temperatures and repeated frost on phenology, fitness and mode of reproduction in diploid and tetraploid cytotypes of the alpine species Ranunculus kuepferi. The reproduction mode was determined via flow cytometric seed screening (FCSS).

Key results

Diploids produced the first flowers

SUBMITTER: Klatt S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6007502 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature