TY - JOUR
T1 - Pollen production of downy birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh.) along an altitudinal gradient in the European Alps
AU - Ranpal, Surendra
AU - von Bargen, Susanne
AU - Gilles, Stefanie
AU - Luschkova, Daria
AU - Landgraf, Maria
AU - Traidl-Hoffmann, Claudia
AU - Büttner, Carmen
AU - Damialis, Athanasios
AU - Jochner-Oette, Susanne
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/6
Y1 - 2023/6
N2 - High-altitude environments are highly susceptible to the effects of climate change. Thus, it is crucial to examine and understand the behaviour of specific plant traits along altitudinal gradients, which offer a real-life laboratory for analysing future impacts of climate change. The available information on how pollen production varies at different altitudes in mountainous areas is limited. In this study, we investigated pollen production of 17 birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh.) individuals along an altitudinal gradient in the European Alps. We sampled catkins at nine locations in the years 2020–2021 and monitored air temperatures. We investigated how birch pollen, flowers and inflorescences are produced in relation to thermal factors at various elevations. We found that mean pollen production of Betula pubescens Ehrh. varied between 0.4 and 8.3 million pollen grains per catkin. We did not observe any significant relationships between the studied reproductive metrics and altitude. However, minimum temperature of the previous summer was found to be significantly correlated to pollen (rs = 0.504, p = 0.039), flower (rs = 0.613, p = 0.009) and catkin (rs = 0.642, p = 0.005) production per volume unit of crown. Therefore, we suggest that temperature variability even at such small scales is very important for studying the response related to pollen production.
AB - High-altitude environments are highly susceptible to the effects of climate change. Thus, it is crucial to examine and understand the behaviour of specific plant traits along altitudinal gradients, which offer a real-life laboratory for analysing future impacts of climate change. The available information on how pollen production varies at different altitudes in mountainous areas is limited. In this study, we investigated pollen production of 17 birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh.) individuals along an altitudinal gradient in the European Alps. We sampled catkins at nine locations in the years 2020–2021 and monitored air temperatures. We investigated how birch pollen, flowers and inflorescences are produced in relation to thermal factors at various elevations. We found that mean pollen production of Betula pubescens Ehrh. varied between 0.4 and 8.3 million pollen grains per catkin. We did not observe any significant relationships between the studied reproductive metrics and altitude. However, minimum temperature of the previous summer was found to be significantly correlated to pollen (rs = 0.504, p = 0.039), flower (rs = 0.613, p = 0.009) and catkin (rs = 0.642, p = 0.005) production per volume unit of crown. Therefore, we suggest that temperature variability even at such small scales is very important for studying the response related to pollen production.
KW - Air temperature
KW - Elevation
KW - Mountain-valley gradient
KW - Plant ecology
KW - Reproduction
KW - Thermal factors
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85158094151&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00484-023-02483-7
DO - 10.1007/s00484-023-02483-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85158094151
SN - 0020-7128
VL - 67
SP - 1125
EP - 1139
JO - International Journal of Biometeorology
JF - International Journal of Biometeorology
IS - 6
ER -