Providing the missing links in fern life history: Insights from a phenological survey of the gametophyte stage.

ABSTRACT:

Premise

The entire life cycle of ferns has been documented, yet their life histories are still poorly understood. In particular, the phenology of fern gametophytes remains largely unknown. To address this issue, we demonstrated a new ecological approach to explore the phenological link between spore release and gametophyte maturation within the life history of a tree fern species.

Methods

We conducted a serial survey of Alsophila podophylla gametophyte abundance in the field, and recorded the time of its spore release. Every two months for one year, all terrestrial fern gametophytes in an unsampled subplot were collected and identified using tissue-direct PCR.

Results

We found temporal differences in gametophyte abundances, with a sevenfold difference between t

SUBMITTER: Quinlan A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9039788 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar-Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature