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(American Journal of Botany. 2008;95:258-262.)
© 2008 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

Brief Communication

Life span correlates with population dynamics in perennial herbaceous plants1

María B. García2,6, F. Xavier Picó3,4 and Johan Ehrlén5

2 Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, CSIC, Apdo. 202, Zaragoza, Spain 3 Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals (CREAF), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain 4 Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Avda. María Luisa s/n 41013 Seville, Spain 5 Department of Botany, University of Stockholm, Stockholm 10691, Sweden

ABSTRACT

Survival and fecundity are basic components of demography and therefore have a strong influence on population dynamics. These two key parameters and their relationship are crucial to understand the evolution of life histories. It remains, however, to be empirically established how life span, fecundity, and population dynamics are linked in different organism groups. We conducted a comparative study based on demographic data sets of 55 populations of 23 perennial herbs for which structured demographic models and among-year natural variation in demographic attributes were available. Life span (from 4 to 128 yr old), estimated by using an algorithm, was inversely correlated with the deviance of the population growth rate from equilibrium as well as with among-year population fluctuations. Temporal variability was greater for short-lived species than for the long-lived ones because fecundity was more variable than survival and relatively more important for population dynamics for the short-lived species. The relationship between life span and population stability suggests that selection for longevity may have played an important role in the life history evolution of plants because of its ability to buffer temporal fluctuations in population size.

Key Words: demography • elasticity • life-cycle components • life history evolution • matrix models • perennial herbs • population growth rate • temporal variability






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