2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Conservation ecology for coastal Persea thunbergii forests at northern limit
| Project/Area Number |
11660137
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
|
| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
|---|
| Section | 一般 |
|---|
| Research Field |
林学
|
|---|
| Research Institution | Yamagata University |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
HAYASHIDA Mitsuhiro YAMAGATA UNIVERSITY, Department of Agriculture, Associate Professor, 農学部, 助教授 (10208639)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
1999 – 2001
|
| Keywords | Persea thunbergii / northern limit / population dynamics / germination phenology / geographical variation |
|---|
| Research Abstract |
I examined the germination phenology of Persea thunbergii in the forest at the northern limit and conducted a germination experiment in a nursery using intact fleshy fruits and seeds with the pulp removed. Under a closed canopy of P. thunbergii, few seedlings emerged in autumn soon after their dispersal; most seedlings emerged in the following summer. In contrast, at the forest edges, many seedlings emerged in autumn as well as during the following summer. Twenty percent of the depulped seeds germinated in the autumn soon after sowing, although most of the seeds with pulp intact germinated during the following summer. Frugivorous birds remove the pulp from the seed by ingestion and scatter the seeds. Pulp removal by frugivores probably induces germination dimorphism of P. thunbergii. Seventy percent of autumn emergent seedlings died back the following winter or in early spring. However, the autumn emergent seedlings that escaped from dying back grew significantly faster than the summer emergent seedlings under a 30% relative photon flux density. Germination dimorphism may be important for seedling survival in the unpredictable winter climate at the northern limit.
|
Research Products
(4 results)
