Life Histories of Tillers of Eriophorum Vaginatum in Relation to Tundra Disturbance
Fetcher N and Shaver GR. 1983. Life Histories of Tillers of Eriophorum Vaginatum in Relation to Tundra Disturbance. Journal of Ecology. 71(1):131-147
Life tables were constructed for vegetative tillers of E. vaginatum from undisturbed and disturbed tussock tundra in Alaska. Life-tables were also constructed for tillers from tundra that had been fertilized with N, P and K. The life-tables were used to estimate population parameters and to construct constant coefficient matrix models of tiller demography. Tiller survival was lower in disturbed than it was in undisturbed tundra, and daughter tillers were produced sooner. Addition of nutrients (as fertilizer) produced no change in tiller survival and in the age distribution of daughter tiller production in the first year following fertilization. The shapes of the survival curves were intermediate between Deevey Type I and Deevey Type II curves. The generation time for tillers in undisturbed tundra was 5 less than or equal to 3 years--about twice as long as in disturbed tundra--while the annual rate of increase of tillers did not differ greatly.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Fetcher, Ned; Shaver, G
- Units
- ARCN , BELA , CAKR , GAAR , KOVA , NOAT
- Keywords
- Arctic, Arctic LTER Site, Brooks Range Foothills, d 04640, Eriophorum vaginatum, Life History, natural disturbance, Other angiosperms, Toolik Lake, Tundra