Adapting Strategy of Biennial Endangered Halenia corniculata (L.) Cornaz to Environmental Stress and Its Implications for Conservation Plan

Abstract

Under intensive environmental stress, reported that plants have complementary and positive interactions instead of competition among species. In order to examine whether there as a possible correlation between the performance of Halenia corniculata and the coverage/height of other plants with the same distribution, a total of 30 plots were established at two representative distributional areas. The height, total number of chasmogamous flowers and cleistogamous flowers, their overall plots coverage, and observed plants species on each plot were determined. Our results revealed that the number of chasmogamous and cleistogamous flowers of Halenia corniculata was increased when its height was increased. The performance of Halenia corniculata was found to have a significant correlation with the overall coverage of observed plants species in the plot as well as the height of observed plants in established plots. Our results suggest that the biennial plant Halenia corniculata might be able to choose a site inhabited by other perennial plants in the high-altitude region under environmental stress for appropriate growth and reproduction. One main reason that Halenia corniculata seedlings could be established in regions where other plants are inhabited might be due to the degree of light requirement by the seedling stage is different from that at the adult stage. The size of Halenia corniculata population in South Korea was found to be proportional to that of available sites that could support its life cycle, suggesting that available sites need to be secure in order to maintain its life cycle.