Abstract
The study aimed to evaluate the parameters of reproductive traits, specimens’ fertility and reproductive efficiency observed in Betula pendula populations growing at different types of sites (zinc-lead heaps, coal mine heaps and unpolluted site). The leaf biomass and the biometric characteristics of inflorescences and fructifications were identified. Moreover, the biometric parameters of B. pendula seedlings were evaluated for examined sites. Seed-originated trees mostly of age 40 were randomly selected and from each tree, a branches from 1.70 m height and orientation N–S, W–E to the cardinal points of the stem were chosen. In the laboratory, selected soil parameters, the viability of pollen and the seeding value of seeds were analysed. According to the multidimensional statistical analysis the populations of B. pendula growing on post-industrial wastelands represent different morphotypes with lower values of almost all the reproductive traits, compared to the unpolluted birch population. Such traits as the male:female catkin number ratio and the non-embryo seed number were positively correlated with the heavy metal content at the zinc-lead heaps; at the same time these traits were negatively correlated with soil fertility. The fully developed seed number and the mature female catkin number were strongly correlated with the available potassium and phosphorus soil content but also with the leaf number on the generative shoots. The specimens of birch growing in these three habitats did not develop a universal reproductive strategy. Some differences in fecundity, the condition of seeds and the patterns of seed germination were found. The resulting seedling survival is determined by the plasticity of biometric traits, sheltered places for germination, etc. Seedlings that originated from heaps (local gene resources) are more suitable for use in the reclamation of large amounts of waste.
Highlights
Mechanisms of development and changes of organisms, population, and species have been known in outline [1,2,3,4], but supplementary detailed studies are still needed to combine morphological traits, soil properties and ecological variation in post-industrial habitats that can be treated as a kind of novel ecosystems 5
We have addressed these issue by examine relationships between generative traits and environmental factors in the silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) a habitat-forming species appearing transiently in the initial course of succession [27,28,29,30,31]
The Zn–Pb D silver birch populations, with the lowest values of all of the measured traits, differed significantly from other populations: the Coal mine D and unpolluted sites (Control L) (Table 2a). The latter population had the highest number of female catkins as well as male catkin length and the number and length of mature female catkins
Summary
Mechanisms of development and changes of organisms, population, and species have been known in outline [1,2,3,4], but supplementary detailed studies are still needed to combine morphological traits, soil properties and ecological variation in post-industrial habitats that can be treated as a kind of novel ecosystems 5. It is known that different types of environmental stresses (acid or basic pH, low organic matter and nutrient content, low water availability, high concentrations of heavy metals Cd, Cr, Fe, Ni, Pb, Zn), elevated CO2 and C O3 that plants suffer from can influence the suite of life history traits of species that successfully colonise post-industrial sites and form stable vegetation cover [6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14] They should be considered as a kind of compromise between allocation of energy to growth, development and reproduction [15,16,17]. How species adapt to environmental stresses, can change with ontogeny and can be different between laboratory (controlled) and natural growing conditions 26
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