Spatial Patterns and Environmental Associates of Bamboo (Bashania fangiana Yi) After Mass-Flowering in Southwestern China

Abstract

TAYLOR, A. H. (Department of Geography, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 USA), D. G. REID (Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 2A9), QIN ZISHENG AND Hu JINcHU (Department of Biology, Nanchong Teachers College, Nanchong, Sichuan, People's Republic of China). Spatial patterns and environmental associates of live bamboo (Bashania fangiana Yi) after mass-flowering in southwestern China. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 118: 247-254. 1991.-The spatial pattern of live patches of Bashaniafangiana after most stands flowered in 1983 in Wolong Natural Reserve, China were analyzed. Live patches were intensely clumped at small spatial scales and remained clumped up to scales of 14.4 km2. Discriminant function analysis of 281 randomly selected points with live or dead bamboo described by six environmental variables identified elevation and percentage forest cover as the most important variables separating sites with live and dead bamboo. Live bamboo was associated with sites >3200 m and with clearcut forest. These data suggest that stress at high altitudes and in open habitats retarded flowering by altering resource allocation patterns within clones. The life history of B. fangiana is also compared to expected life history traits of bamboos responding to evolutionary mechanisms that may promote massflowering in bamboos.