The abundance of plants bearing extrafloral nectaries in Colorado and Mojave Desert communities of southern California
Pemberton RW. 1988. The abundance of plants bearing extrafloral nectaries in Colorado and Mojave Desert communities of southern California. Madroño. 35(3)
This is an article about plants containing extrafloral nectaries in the Colorado and Mojave Deserts. This type of defense system seems to be common in warm and dry areas. Measurements of the cover and frequency of EFN-bearing plants in seven warm desert communities in California revealed some of the highest levels of abundance of EFN-bearing plants that have been recorded for the temperate zone. The desert wash communities of both deserts had the highest covers (28 and 24%) and frequencies (0.27, 0.27) of EFN-bearing plants, whereas the sand dune communities had the lowest levels of abundance of EFN-bearing plants with covers of 2 and 0.0% and frequencies of 0.01 and 0.0. Colorado Desert communities had higher covers, frequencies, and numbers of EFN-bearing plants than Mojave Desert communities. The EFN antiherbivore defense system is predicted to be also common in other warm-dry communities of the world because those warm environments have an abundance of ants and plant groups, such as mimosoid legumes and cacti, known to have many EFN-bearing species. The EFN defense system may be particularly well suited to plants growing in warm-dry zones.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Pemberton, Robert
- Units
- MOJA
- Keywords
- extrafloral nectaries, Plant Studies