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Trade-offs between flowering time, plant height, and seed size within and across 11 communities of a QingHai-Tibetan flora

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Abstract

Flowering timing is of fundamental biological importance for its tight association with pre-flower growth states and subsequent reproduction success. Here, we selected plant height and seed size to represent plant growth and reproduction states, respectively, and analyzed their associations with flowering time in 11 communities together representing a QingHai-Tibetan flora. Trait associations were examined using Pearson correlation analyses (TIPs) and phylogenetically independent contrasts (PICs) within individual communities and meta-analyses across all communities. The results of TIPs-based and PICs-based analyses were generally congruent, although fewer contrasts were significant with PICs, probably because of low statistical power. Overall, flowering time was negatively correlated with seed size and plant height (i.e., plants with larger seeds and stature started flowering earlier) in various woody communities, but correlations were neutral or positive in herbaceous communities. The seed size–flowering time relationship was negative for woody and herbaceous perennials but not for annual herbs in most communities. The relationship between plant height and flowering time was negative for woody but positive for herbaceous plants. Moreover, the lack of difference in time–size relationships between anemophilous and entomophilous plants suggests that pollination type may only be a secondary force in controlling flowering phenology. Our studies demonstrate that environmental conditions, community structure, and plant life history strategies may affect community flowering time singly or in combination.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Johannes H. C. Cornelissen for his constructive comments and patient help with correcting the draft. We thank Dr. Xuelin Chen, Dr. Yifeng Wang, Hui Guo, Shuqing Guo, Peng Jia, Kun Liu, Min Yang, and Mei Su for their advice or help with field work. This study was supported by the Key Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China granted to Guozhen Du (40930533), and the Interdisciplinary Innovation Research Fund for Young Scholars, Lanzhou University (200510).

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  1. Department of Ecology, Lanzhou University, South Tianshui Road 222, Lanzhou, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Guozhen Du & Wei Qi

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  1. Guozhen Du
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  2. Wei Qi
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Correspondence to Wei Qi.

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Guozhen Du and Wei Qi contributed equally to this paper.

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11258_2010_9763_MOESM1_ESM.doc

Supplementary material 1 Plant species and their functional traits in 11 communities across different sites. FPD, peak flowering time; SS, seed size; PHt, plant height; GF, growth form; PM, pollination mode (DOC 1,922 kb)

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Du, G., Qi, W. Trade-offs between flowering time, plant height, and seed size within and across 11 communities of a QingHai-Tibetan flora. Plant Ecol 209, 321–333 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-010-9763-4

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