Reconciling competing hypotheses regarding flower-leaf sequences in temperate forests for fundamental and global change biology
© 2020 The Authors New Phytologist © 2020 New Phytologist Foundation.
| Veröffentlicht in: | The New phytologist. - 1979. - 229(2021), 3 vom: 10. Feb., Seite 1206-1214 |
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| Weitere Verfasser: | , |
| Format: | Online-Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | English |
| Veröffentlicht: |
2021
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| Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk: | The New phytologist |
| Schlagworte: | Journal Article deciduous forests flower-leaf sequences global change hysteranthy phenology phylogeny |
| Zusammenfassung: | © 2020 The Authors New Phytologist © 2020 New Phytologist Foundation. Phenology is a major component of an organism's fitness. While individual phenological events affect fitness, there is growing evidence to suggest that the relationship between events could be equally or more important. This could explain why temperate deciduous woody plants exhibit considerable variation in the order of reproductive and vegetative events, or flower-leaf sequences (FLSs). There is evidence to suggest that FLSs may be adaptive, with several competing hypotheses to explain their function. Here, we advance existing hypotheses with a new framework that accounts for quantitative FLS variation at multiple taxonomic scales using case studies from temperate forests. Our inquiry provides several major insights towards a better understanding of FLS variation. First, we show that support for FLS hypotheses is sensitive to how FLSs are defined, with quantitative definitions being the most useful for robust hypothesis testing. Second, we demonstrate that concurrent support for multiple hypotheses should be the starting point for future FLS analyses. Finally, we highlight how adopting a quantitative, intraspecific approach generates new avenues for evaluating fitness consequences of FLS variation and provides cascading benefits to improving predictions of how climate change will alter FLSs and thereby reshape plant communities and ecosystems |
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| Beschreibung: | Date Completed 14.05.2021 Date Revised 14.05.2021 published: Print-Electronic Citation Status MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1469-8137 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/nph.16848 |