Historical Records of Climate-Related Growth in Cassiope Tetragona from the Arctic

Abstract

(1) Shoots of the circumpolar species Cassiope tetragona were collected on brief visits to three remote arctic and subarctic sites, two in Svalbard and one in Swedish Lapland. The shoots were subsequently analysed by measuring leaf lengths in strict sequence along individual shoots. (2) This evergreen species retained up to 232 leaves per shoot. Leaf lengths, plotted against leaf position on the shoots, revealed two trends: (i) more or less regular waves caused by the alternation of short spring and autumn leaves with long summer leaves, and (ii) an ontogenetic trend represented by a general increase in leaf length with increasing distance between the point of origin of the leaf and the origin of the shoot. (3) The seasonal trend of leaf length was used to delimit annual complements of leaves, of which up to twenty persisted. The number of leaves was counted for each year and the ontogenetic trend of leaf length was removed by statistical methods so that leaf length indices could be calculated and relative lengths compared, both between years within populations and between populations. Three indices of leaf length were derived: maximum, minimum and the total of all leaf length indices for each year. (4) Correlation analysis between the four measures of annual leaf performance showed several similarities between the two Svalbard populations, a few between the low altitude population from Svalbard and that from Swedish Lapland and none between the higher altitude Svalbard population and that from Swedish Lapland. (5) Correlation analysis between annual leaf performance and mean monthly temperature and monthly total precipitation showed that July temperatures and precipitation during May were particularly important for leaf development in the Svalbard populations. July temperatures represent mid-summer conditions during a very short growing season in Svalbard, whereas May is normally the driest month in this region of generally low precipitation. Ambient temperature is usually sub-zero for most of May and precipitation as snow is probably important in protecting the sensitive shoot apices of C. tetragona which lack true buds. (6) In Swedish Lapland, the number of leaves per year was correlated with summer temperatures but only negatively with precipitation which was greater at the Swedish site than in Svalbard. At the Swedish site, therefore, the protection of leaf primordia from frost is probably greater than in Svalbard because of a more persistent snow cover. (7) Correlations between the number of leaves per year and leaf length indices in the previous year, together with correlations between leaf performance and weather conditions in the previous year, were often significant. In general, the same weather variables were correlated with leaf performance as in the within-year comparisons. (8) The correlations between the number of leaves per year and the other measures of leaf performance and weather in the previous year were particularly strong in the Svalbard populations. This demonstrates the preformation of an annual leaf complement by the High Arctic Svalbard populations. This may be an important mechanism to buffer