LTREB: Variance and Synchrony in Flowering and Dormancy of Iteroparous Perennial Wildflowers

智力优势：我们对多年生草本植物的种群动态知之甚少，很少有研究在适当的时间尺度(几十年)监测个体和种群，以记录或分析随着时间的推移的模式。需要资金继续对蒙大拿州西部和艾伯塔省西南部半干旱草原上的四种多年生荒漠植物进行人口统计监测，它们是：黄芪、斯瓦尔丁吉、直叶委陵菜和Anenome Patens。继续监测将有助于研究多年生草本植物的繁殖、资源获取和种群动态的一般机制。对数据的初步分析。最终，长期的人口监测将被用来分析在每个物种和种群中开花和休眠的时间模式同步的程度。此外，将检验同步性的最终进化原因模型预测的模式，确定个体资源动态中的反馈强度，并比较基于个体资源动态的种群模型和基于地上植物大小的过渡模型的预测。这些分析将建立个人分配和人口动态人口模型之间的关系。在这样做的过程中，将开发出一般性的想法来解释树木的桅杆播种机制，这些机制可以在所有储存多年资源的植物中驱动资源获取和繁殖。更广泛的影响：多年生草本植物具有重要的应用意义，因为草原保护的重要性，杂草管理的必要性，以及多年生作物在土壤保持和杂草控制方面可能具有的环境优势。在十年尺度上对个体和种群动态的观察是理解草本植物种群动态的核心。此外，这里的每个监测项目都涉及人口统计或敏感或入侵物种的影响，并可能提高我们管理特定物种和种群的能力。最后，申请的大部分资金用于夏季本科生研究实习生，他们将在不积极计算植物的情况下，将大约50%的时间用于蒙大拿大学的独立研究和/或公共推广项目。

Intellectual merit: We know extremely little about population dynamics of herbaceous perennial plants, and few studies monitor individuals and populations at appropriate the temporal scale (decades) to document or analyze patterns over time. Funds are requested to continue demographic monitoring of four iteroparous, perennial plants in semi-arid grasslands in western Montana and southwest Alberta: Astragalus scaphoides, Silene spaldingii, Potentilla recta, and Anenome patens. Continued monitoring will allow investigation of general mechanisms of reproduction, resource acquisition and population dynamics in herbaceous perennial plants. Initial analyses of data from. Ultimately, long-term demographic monitoring will be used to analyze the extent to which temporal patterns of flowering and dormancy are synchronous in each species andpopulation. In addition, patterns predicted by models of ultimate evolutionary causes of synchrony will be tested, strength of feedback in individual resource dynamics will be determined, and predictions of population models based on individual resource dynamics to transition models based on above-ground plant size will be compared. These analyses will build relationships between individual allocation and demographic models of populations dynamics. In doing so, general ideas will be developed to explain mast-seeding in trees to mechanisms that could drive resource acquisition and reproduction in all plants that store resources over multiple years. Broader impacts: Herbaceous perennial plants are of great applied significance, because of the importance of grassland conservation, the need for weed management, and the possible environmental advantages of perennial crops for soil conservation and weed control. Observations of individual and population dynamics at decadal scales are central to understanding herbaceous plant population dynamics. In addition, each of the monitoring programs here involves demography or impacts of sensitive or invasive species, and can potentially improve our ability to manage specific species and populations. Finally, the majority of the requested funds are for summer undergraduate research interns, who will spend about 50% of their time participating in independent research and/or public outreach programs at the University of Montana, when not actively counting plants.