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Belowground bud production is linked to population establishment in Sorghastrum nutans (Poaceae)

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Abstract

Belowground bud production mediates many responses of tallgrass prairie grasses to temporal environmental variation, and clonal spread contributes to dominance in successional plant communities. However, we know little about the importance of these regenerative traits for vegetation establishment in grassland restoration and about their regional variability. Further, geographic seed or transplant sources affect plant performance. We investigated the effects of seed source on the number of belowground buds per tiller, clonal spread (total rhizome length adjusted for plant biomass), and population establishment in the native C4 grass Sorghastrum nutans sown into tallgrass prairie restorations using reciprocal common gardens in three sites (in Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma). We characterized buds per tiller and clonal spread at the plant level and related both traits to population establishment at the restoration plot level. Plant-level bud production significantly differed among seed sources and common garden sites, and was positively associated with plot-level establishment (density and canopy cover), but plant-level clonal spread did not differ among seed sources or common garden sites and was not associated with the plot-level establishment. Our results are among the first to link bud production, which varied among source populations, to differences in plant population establishment. These results suggest that we should more often consider differences among sources in traits closely tied to post-seeding population establishment. The use of sources that possess such traits may facilitate successful establishment in restoration settings.

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Acknowledgments

We thank TNC for site access; and Chris Helzer, Jeremy Tubbs, Chris Wilson, and Mardell Jasnowski for logistical support. The Konza Prairie LTER Program provided funding. The labs of David Hartnett and John Blair provided lab resources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biology, Kansas State University, 116 Ackert Hall, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA

    Daniel L. Carter & Benjamin L. VanderWeide

  2. Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, W239 N1812 Rockwood Drive, P.O. Box 1607, Waukesha, WI, 53187, USA

    Daniel L. Carter

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  1. Daniel L. Carter
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  2. Benjamin L. VanderWeide
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Correspondence to Daniel L. Carter.

Additional information

Communicated by Jennifer Lee Firn.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1 Site location, 1981–2010 mean and 2010 and 2011 observed total precipitation (ppt) and temperature (Temp.) means for meteorological summer (June–August), and land-use history for each common garden location
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Table 2 Species in seed additions (nomenclature from the United States Department of Agriculture Plants Database, URL: plants.usda.gov/java, Accessed 3/2012), amount of live seed added to each plot (equal among all the seed sources), and broad functional groupings
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Carter, D.L., VanderWeide, B.L. Belowground bud production is linked to population establishment in Sorghastrum nutans (Poaceae). Plant Ecol 215, 977–986 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-014-0353-8

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