Impacts of earlier snowmelt on fruiting phenology and seed success of Rocky Mountain wildflowers
Abstract
Phenology, or the timing of biological events, has been found to shift in response to changing climates and key environmental cues such as spring temperatures and snowmelt date. These phenological shifts have been observed to be particularly extreme in mid-to-high latitude alpine environments, like Rocky Mountain ecosystems, where a variety of spring wildflowers have already been observed to be changing their flowering phenology. While flowering has been extensively studied, fruiting phenology remains largely unexplored, despite this stage being arguably more telling of reproductive output as the culmination of successful flowering and pollination events. Understanding how mean fruiting time and duration are impacted by shifting environmental cues will be critical in understanding the effects of future climate change on wildflower reproduction and population. To more thoroughly understand exactly how these potential shifts in fruiting phenology may be impacting wildflower reproductive output and future populations, seed success - assessed through seed mass, total fruit count, and viable seed counts - will be examined. The results of this study found there to be an advance in mean fruiting time for three of the five study species in response to the early snowmelt treatment, but this shift in fruiting mean did not translate to an observed change in fruiting duration with the exception of one species. Seed characteristics and success were found to be trait-responsive to the early snowmelt treatment. For example, Delphinium nuttallianum, was found to have a lower seed mass for individuals in the early snowmelt treatment plots, but total fruit count or viable seed counts were unaffected. These trait-specific responses highlight the importance of more holistic assessments of seed quality and success as using only one determinant could tell a different story than including multiple.
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References (21)
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