Abstract

Reproductive phenology is sensitive to climatic changes, and is associated with species functional types, distribution ranges and their corresponding climatic niches. Phylogenetic niche conservatism in reproductive phenology also constrains its diversity and distribution of species. Therefore, we assessed the effects of photosynthetic pathway, life history, phylogeny and climatic niche on reproductive phenology. For 190 Poaceae species in subtropical China, we compiled data on flowering onset and reproductive period, functional type (photosynthetic pathway and life history) and 18 climatic variables across species’ global distributions, and used phylogenetic models to determine associations. We found strong phylogenetic signals in flowering onset but not reproductive period. Photosynthetic pathway and life history have significant interactive effects on both flowering onset and reproductive period, such that C3-annual grasses flowered the earliest, and had the longest reproductive period. Similarly, we found that species with wider climatic niches would flower earlier and have longer reproductive periods. Specifically, species that experience wider ranges of mean annual precipitation and coldest-month temperatures would flower earlier, and species with higher mean annual temperature and wider ranges of wettest-quarter precipitation have longer reproductive period. This study finds that the diversity of reproductive phenology among subtropical grasses is constrained by evolution and climatic niche, and that photosynthetic pathway and life history have an interactive effect on the timing and duration of reproduction.

Highlights

  • Reproductive phenology is key to the success of individual plant reproduction and population persistence (Rathcke and Lacey, 1985; Elzinga et al, 2007; Craine et al, 2012a)

  • There has not yet been a systematic study on how reproductive phenology is shaped by plant functional types, phylogeny, and climatic niches

  • Further phylogenetic generalized least square (PGLS) model comparisons showed that photosynthetic pathway (PT) and life history type (AP) had significant interactive effects on both flowering onset and reproductive period. y ∼ PT × AP was selected as the best-fitted model (Table 1B)

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Summary

Introduction

Reproductive phenology is key to the success of individual plant reproduction and population persistence (Rathcke and Lacey, 1985; Elzinga et al, 2007; Craine et al, 2012a). Recent studies have found that the reproductive phenology of species is influenced by life history, photosynthetic pathway, and phylogeny (Davies et al, 2013; Du et al, 2015; Cortés-Flores et al, 2017; Munson and Long, 2017). Despite these various findings, there has not yet been a systematic study on how reproductive phenology is shaped by plant functional types, phylogeny, and climatic niches

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