Cycling in plants is probably best known for semelparous, strict biennials. These plants are rosettes one year and flower the second year. The rosette population is likely to be much larger creating cycling of total population size for that cohort (e.g. the cohort flowering in even years). Some populations may have two cohorts but if disturbances that create recruitment opportunities occur over large areas, then the population may be dominated by a single cohort and have biennial cycling.
My research group has documented similar patterns for an annual plant (Warea carteri) with delayed recruitment in an article in Population Ecology (2011, volume 53, pages 131-142). In this case the biennial cycles gradually dampen due to some seeds germinating in off-years. The cycling is usually initiated by fire and subsequent mass recruitment from a persistent soil seed bank. -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Pati Vitt Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2017 6:48 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] cycles in plant populations? Perhaps the best example is masting in trees. Pati Vitt > On Feb 4, 2017, at 6:57 PM, David Inouye <ino...@umd.edu> wrote: > > The classic examples of populations that cycle, including predator-prey > interactions, and some host-parasite interactions, all involve animals. Are > there similar examples of cycles in plant populations? Certainly lots of > variation in abundance, such as in population size of desert annuals > responding to precipitation, but what about regular (cyclic) variation? > > David Inouye > > -- > > Dr. David W. Inouye > Professor Emeritus > Department of Biology > University of Maryland > College Park, MD 20742-4415 > ino...@umd.edu > > Principal Investigator > Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory > PO Box 519 > Crested Butte, CO 81224
