Altitudinal Variations in Reproductive Allocation of <I>Bergenia purpurascens</I> (Saxifragaceae)

Abstract

The st rategy of resource allocation between vegetative and reproductive functions , quantitative rela2 tionship between size and reproductive output are central aspect s of plant life2history. To test the tactics of resource allocation and it s altitudinal t rend , we examined the reproductive allocation ( RA) of Bergenia pur2 purascens (Saxif ragaceae) , in six populations along a shady slope in Sejila Mountain of southeast Tibet , at an altitude gradient f rom 4 200 m to 4 640 m. Our result s showed that (1) with increasing altitude , vegetative biomass , reproductive biomass , total aboveground biomass , flower number per plant and length of flower stalk decreased significantly , but the number of leaves did not change greatly. However , the change of RA did not show a monotonic t rend when altitude increased , shif ting f rom significantly decreasing below the t ree line to slightly increasing above it ; (2) vegetative biomass was positively correlated with reproductive bio2 云 南 植 物 研 究 2010 , 32 (3) : 270~280 Acta Botanica Yunnanica DOI : 1013724/ SP1J1114312010110015