Spiny east Mediterranean plant species flower later and in a drier season than non-spiny species

Abstract

We compared the flowering phenology of spiny and non-spiny native species belonging to three families (Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Lamiaceae), which include the highest number of spiny species in the flora of Israel. We found that the peak of flowering (when the highest number of species flowered) was 4–8 weeks later for spiny species than for non-spiny species. The flowering peak of non-spiny species was in late March, while that of spiny species was at the beginning of May. The seasonal shift in flowering time from the main season, when most Mediterranean plants bloom, to the end of the flowering season, when fewer species bloom, might be the evolutionary result of a change in phenology reducing the competition for pollinators. Our results clearly indicate that spinescence of plants in the semi-arid east Mediterranean region is associated with a delayed flowering season at the beginning of the dry summer when most of the herbaceous vegetation is already dry. During this season, mammalian grazers consume any edible herbaceous vegetation, selecting for late flowering species that allocate more resources for anti-herbivore defenses than early flowering species. There is a well-known global geographical trend where the occurrence of spiny plants is higher in arid regions than in humid ones. In parallel to the global trend, we show a seasonal one, that non-spiny plants grow and flower in the spring, which is the main flowering season in the Mediterranean basin, while spiny plants flower later, in the hot and dry summer. Under the current trend of global warming, there are prospects of future increase in the dominance of spiny species in the Mediterranean region.