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Mount Usu / Sarobetsu post-mined peatland
From left: Crater basin in 1986 and 2006. Cottongrass / Daylily
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Definition
Raunkiaer's life form
Raunkiaer's life form spectrum in the world
Raunkiaer, Christen Christensen
Bud dormancy and lifeform
Indicator species
Evolution of lifeform through nutrient aquisitionMaximizing the good times (良好タイミング最大化) (Boysen-Jensen 1937, Monsi 1960, Walter 1973, Schulze 1982)
The performance of a specific life span is measured by the marginal return of carbon per unit resource invested.
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Some factors favoring evergreen over deciduous
Wetland plantshydrophyte (水生植物) = aquatic plantshygrophyte (湿生植物/水生植物) = between hydorphytes and mesophytes, not developing special organs for water conditions halophyte (塩生植物): tolerant to salts mesophytes (中生植物): most plants xerophyte (乾生植物): adapted to
uniform dryness |
Species classified into a few life forms based on the place of the dormant organs during adverse seasons, i.e., cold and/or dry seasons Table. Raunkiaer's life form or dormancy form spectra (Raunkiaer 1934)
Sclerophyte (硬葉植物): a evergreen and xerophytic plant with thick, hard leaves |
Fig. Raunkiaer's life form. Brown squares indicate the positions of dormant buds. (a) phanerophytes, (b) nanophanerophytes - chamaephytes, (c) hemicryptophytes, (d) geophytes, (e) therophytes, (f) epiphytes
Raunkiaer's life form spectrumTable 4. Selected Raunkiaerian life-form spectra for certain major climate. n: number of species examined. (Cain 1950)Vegetation type climate and locality Life form n Ph Ch H G/HH Th Normal spectrum (world standard) 1000 46 9 26 6 13 Rainforest, Queensland (2) 141 96 2 2 Subtropical evergreen, Matheran, India 361 65 17 2 5 10 Desert, Transcaspian lowlands (3) 768 11 7 27 14 41 Mediterranean olive forest, Creta (4) 1571 9 15 27 10 38 Steppe, Akron, Colorado (5) 79 19 58 8 15 Temperate deciduous broad-leaf 1453 15 2 49 22 12 forest, Connecticut (6) Tundra, Spisbergen (1) 110 1 22 60 15 2
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Species | Depth of bud dormancy |
Type of dormancy |
Type of dormant bud |
Raunkiaer's lifeform |
Phenology of shoot |
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Oct. | Dec. | ||||||
1. | Erigeron annuus | 3 | 4 | I | A | Hpr | WG-SG |
2 | Oenothera biennis | 3 | 6 | I | A | Hpr | WG-SG |
3 | Geum aleppicum | 6 | 7 | I | A | Hpr | EG |
4 | Rumex acetosella | 3 | 4 | I | A | Hpr | SG |
5 | Viola sp. | 6 | 7 | I | A | Hr | SG |
6 | Trifolium repens | 5 | 5 | I | A | H | SG |
7 | Plantago lanceolata | 6 | 6 | I | A | Hr | EG |
8 | Plantago asiatica | 23 | 4 | II | B | Hr | SG |
9 | Leibnitzia anandria | 54 | 11 | II | B | Hr | Sg |
10 | Solidago virga-aurea | 39 | 12 | II | B | protH | SG |
11 | Aster sp. | 19 | 19 | II | Bb | protH | SG |
12 | Solidago altissima | 45 | 18 | II | Bb | protH | SG |
13 | Artemisia japonica | 37 | 8 | II | B | protH | SG |
14 | Artemisia montana | 54 | 10 | II | B | protH | SG |
15 | Anaphalis margaritacea var. angustior | 39 | 17 | II | B | protH | SG |
16 | Sanguisorba tenuifolia var. tenuifolia f. alba | 52 | 15 | II | B | protH | SG |
17 | Tiarella polyphylla | 19 | 10 | II | C | Ch | EG |
18 | Pyrola incarnata | 59 | 16 | II | Cc | Ch | EG |
19 | Pachysandra terminalis | 25 | 11 | II | Cc | Ch | EG |
20 | Agrimonia japonica | 23 | 7 | II | Bb | Grh | SG |
21 | Geranium thunbergii | 17 | 13 | II | C | Grh | SG |
22 | Filipendula camtschatica | (300) | 11 | III | B | Grh | SG |
23 | Helianthus tuberosus | 300 | 33 | III | B | Gst | SG |
24 | Aster glehnii | 300 | 240 | III | B | Grh | SG |
25 | Adenocaulon himalaicum | 300 | 60 | III | B | Grh | SG |
26 | Cacalia hastata var. orientalis | 300 | 24 | III | B | Grh | SG |
27 | Polygonum filiforme | 300 | 31 | III | B | Grh | SG |
28 | Phrma leptostachya var. asiatica | 300 | 23 | III | B-C | Grh | SG |
29 | Cacalia delphiniifolia | 300 | 19 | III | B-C | Grh | SG |
30 | Cacalia auriculata var. kamtschatica | 300 | 16 | III | B-C | Grh | SG |
31 | Diphylleia grayi | 300 | 43 | III | C | Grh | SG |
32 | Petasites japonicus var.giganteus | (300) | 8 | III | C | Grh | SG |
33 | Lilium cordatum var. glehnii | 300 | 53 | III | C | Gbulb | SG |
34 | Trillium smallii | 300 | 46 | III | Cc | Grh | SG |
35 | Trillium tschonskii | 300 | 50 | III | Cc | Grh | SG |
36 | Trillium kamtschaticum | 300 | 41 | III | Cc | Grh | SG |
37 | Paris tetraphylla | 300 | 25 | III | Cc | Grh | SG |
38 | Chloranthus japonicus | 300 | 33 | III | Cc | Grh | SG |
39 | Erythronium japonicum | 300 | 60 | III | Cc | Gbulb | SPG |
40 | Gagea lutea | 300 | 24 | III | Cc | Gbulb | SPG |
41 | Anemone raddeana var. integra | 300 | 31 | III | C | Grh | SPG |
42 | Panax japonicus | 300 | 28 | III | C | Grh | SG |
43 | Maianthemum dilatatum | (300) | 10 | III | Cc | Grh | SG |
*: 300 and 240 - No bud burst within 300 days and 240 days, respectively.
*: (300) - A few buds burst within 300 days.
Bb: Some buds had swollen or burst slightly in late October.
Cc: Shoot which develop in the following vegetative period are performed in the dormant bud.
*: Hpr - Partial rosette plant of hemicryptophytes, Hr - Rosette plant of hemicryptophytes, protoH - protohemicryptophyte, Ch - Chamaephyte, Grh - Rhizome geophyte, Gst - Stem-tuber geophyte, and Gbulb-Bulb geophyte.
++: WC - Wintergreen, SC - Summergreen, EG-Evergreen, SPC-Springgreen.
Species that indicates the characteristics of the environmental conditions, such as serpentine.
Bioindicator≈ biomonitorPlant, animal or chemicals used to monitor an environment and/or ecosystem Biomonitoringthe measurement of the body burden of toxic chemical compounds, elements, or their metabolites, in biological substancesMethods and procedures on determining indicator species |
literature, asking |
Plant species used as indicator species. Plants can not move greatly except when they are seeds (and pollens). Therefore, each plant establishes in a respective soil type, topography and climate, and generally indicates the environments better than animals.
Phragmites australis - indicates wet habitat Environmental factorspH, nutrients, moisture, light, temperature, salinity, etc.+ disturbance (grazing, fire frequency and intensity, flood) → assumption: the past environment s could be estimated based on the established plants + successional status Site potentialHistorical conditionLife form and biotic indicatorsindividual speciesmorphological patterns
plasticity (Grime 1973) |
Quiz
(Bartelheimer & Poschlod 2016) Ellenberg indicator valuecan be used as a numerical system to classify species habitat niches and their peak occurrence along gradientsThe picture emerging is that multiple determinants can be identified for: N (nitrogen/nutrients) 1 = only growing on the poorest soils → 9 = only growing on excessively nitrogen (nutrient)-rich soils R (soil reaction numbers)1 = strong acidity (never moderately acidic or alkaline) → 9 = alkaline and calcareous conditions, only calcareous soils M (soil moisture numbers): 1-12
1 = species only on dry soils → 9 = only on wet or hypoxic soils 1 = deep shadow with 1–30% of full light available → 9 = only growing in full light to minimum 50% of full light C (continentality)the distance to the sea in Central Europe, where 'eucontinental' (C = 9) represents a species peak distribution at a far distance to the sea and 'euoceanic' (C = 1) indicates close proximity to the sea T (tmperature numbers)predominantly relate to species occurrence at respective elevations above sea level (lower T) correspond to higher elevations) but additionally include planar/especially warm habitats in Europe Proably this indicator value can not be applied to Japan. |