Frost sensitivity of leaves and flowers of subalpine plants is related to tissue type and phenology

Harsh abiotic conditions–such as low temperatures that lead to spring and summer frost events in high-elevation and high-latitude ecosystems–can have strong negative consequences for plant growth, survival, and reproduction. Despite the predicted increase in episodic frost events under continued climate change in some ecosystems, our general understanding of the factors associated with frost sensitivity of reproductive and vegetative plant structures in natural plant communities is limited. The timing of growth and reproduction may be an important strategy by which plants can avoid frost. In this study, we experimentally investigated the frost sensitivity of eight long-lived perennial herbaceous plant species from a subalpine ecosystem in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA. The study taxa represent four congeneric pairs from four flowering plants families; within each pair is a species with early and late growth and reproductive phenology. Thus, we control for evolutionary history–and th...

恶劣的非生物条件（abiotic conditions）——例如在高海拔和高纬度生态系统（high-elevation and high-latitude ecosystems）中导致春夏霜冻事件的低温——会对植物的生长、存活和繁殖产生严重的负面影响。尽管在持续气候变化下，部分生态系统中偶发性霜冻事件的发生频率预计会增加，但我们对自然植物群落中与繁殖和营养植物结构的霜冻敏感性（frost sensitivity）相关的因素的总体理解仍然有限。生长和繁殖的时间选择可能是植物避免霜冻的重要策略。本研究中，我们通过实验调查了来自美国科罗拉多落基山脉亚高山生态系统（subalpine ecosystem）的八种长寿多年生草本植物（perennial herbaceous plant）的霜冻敏感性。研究类群代表了来自四个开花植物科的四对同属物种对（congeneric pairs）；每对中包含一个具有早、晚生长和繁殖物候（phenology）的物种。因此，我们控制了进化历史（evolutionary history）——以及...