Plant recruitment success and range size: transition probabilities from ovule to reproductive individuals in two annual sympatric Ipomoea

• Autores: Astegiano, Julia; Funes, Guillermo; Galetto, Leonardo
• Año de publicación: 2013
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: CHACO WOODLAND; POST-DISPERSAL SUCCESS; PRE-DISPERSAL SUCCESS; RARE-COMMON COMPARISONS
• Institución: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

In plants, narrow geographic distributions are generally associated with low colonization and persistence
abilities, therefore narrowly distributed plants are expected to have lower plant recruitment success than
widespread species. Determining the association between recruitment success and range size requires
the comparison of the success in multiple life-history stages among narrowly distributed and widespread
congeners sharing the same habitat, an integrated approach rarely considered. We compared transition
probabilities from ovule to reproductive adult between the narrowly distributed annual vine Ipomoea
rubriflora O?Donnell (Convolvulaceae) and the widespread Ipomoea purpurea (L.) Roth at sites in Chaco
woodland where they co-occur. I. rubriflora had marginally lower ovule fertilization success, a lower
probability of seed maturation and lower seedling establishment than I. purpurea. The lowest transition
probability for both species was seedling emergence. Seedling establishment in I. rubriflorawas similar to
seedling emergence. Plant recruitment success in I. rubriflora was an order of magnitude lower than that
of I. purpurea. Indeed, I. rubriflora had lower total seed production per plant and smaller seed mass. Our
results suggest that understanding processes determining regeneration (i.e., seedling emergence and
establishment) may be of high importance for understanding narrow distributions in annual plants. The
results also suggest that the narrowly distributed species is not only at a ?numerical disadvantage? for
colonizing new sitesdi.e., lower total seed production per plantdbut it also has a lower per-seed
probability of establishing and thus to persist. However, as lower establishment success in this species
seemed to be associated with the lower ability to survive adverse conditions of seedlings from smallerseeded
species, a narrower regeneration niche might also explain its narrow distribution.
Fil: Astegiano, Julia. Departamento de Ecologia (ib-usp); . Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina
Fil: Funes, Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina
Fil: Galetto, Leonardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina