Great Basin Naturalist
Abstract
Selected reproductive attributes of herbaceous plant species were compared among three stages of a sere in the subalpine zone of Utah's Wasatch Mountains: herbaceous meadow, aspen grove, spruce-fir forest. No successional trends in seed size or inferred mode of seed dispersal were detected. We ascribe the deviation of these findings from those of most other studies to differences in climate, life-form composition, or community age between our sere and those of other studies. A variety of flower colors were found in the meadow stage, grading into a predominance of white flowers under conifers. Animal vectors of pollen, capable of effecting plant outcrossing, were most abundant in the meadows and an order of magnitude less abundant under aspen.
Recommended Citation
Schimpf, David J. and Bayn, Robert L. Jr.
(1983)
"Reproductive attributes of some Rocky Mountain subalpine herbs in successional context,"
Great Basin Naturalist: Vol. 43:
No.
4, Article 6.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol43/iss4/6