Abstract Detail

Conservation Biology

Negron-Ortiz, Vivian [1].

Performance of ramets in a clonal Lamiaceae species, threatened Scutellaria floridana Chapman, in Florida: a preliminary assessment.

Understanding the population dynamics and the life history characteristics of clonal plants that produce both vegetative and sexual offspring requires demographic study of both ramets and genets. One such clonal species is Scutellaria floridana (Lamiaceae ), a perennial herb that is restricted to four counties of the Florida Panhandle and is Federally listed as ‘threatened.’ Vegetative growth, flowering and survival of shoots are being monitored to provide baseline data for a study that will investigate the effect of thinning (pre- and post- timber harvest) and prescribed fires. Quadrats were located within three sites at the Apalachicola National Forest, Florida, representing two restoration treatments [intermediate thinning of slash and longleaf pine stands to a basal area (BA) of an average of 50 square feet per acre, and a savanna restoration that reduces BA to 10-40 square feet per acre], and the control. All sites were burned in January 2017, and 15 randomly selected 1 x 1 m permanent quadrats were established April 2017 and monitored three times a year. During the initial census, 91 clusters of ramets were recorded and mapped. During the first-year census, newly emerged ramets (not previously recorded) produced by clonal growth were found in almost all the plots, with more in the control plots. In addition, the proportion of unemerged ramets (marked ramets that failed to produce aerial shoots) was < 40 % in all study plots. The proportion of ramets that bore flowers was higher for the savanna (14%) and intermediate (21%) plots than the controls (9%). A total of 108 clusters were detected 15 month post-fire, i.e., the second-year census, but it is unknown whether this 20% increase in the number of clusters resulted from ramet fragmentation or seedling recruitment. No fertile ramets were recorded in all study plots a year after the first census. Preliminary results revealed that reproduction is immediately stimulated by fire. Thinning has not yet started, therefore multiple years of data are necessary to understand the effect of thinning and prescribed fires on the demography of this clonal plant.

1 - U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Ecological Services, 1601 Balboa Ave. , Panama City, FL, 32405, USA

Keywords:
fire
Florida
Lamiaceae
threatened
Clonal reproduction
Scutellaria floridana.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Conservation Biology
Location: Grand Ballroom - Exhibit Hall/Mayo Civic Center
Date: Monday, July 23rd, 2018
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 5:30 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PCB011
Abstract ID:798
Candidate for Awards:None