Demography of Sarracenia Purpurea in Massachusetts and Vermont 1997-2021

The northern pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea is a model system for forecasting extinction risk in the face of environmental change. We have monitored demographic variables of two mapped cohorts of S. purpurea in ombrotrophic bogs of northern New England from 1997-2005 (Hawley Bog, Massachusetts) and 1997-present (Molly Bog, Vermont). Growth, survivorship, and reproduction are in close balance, and matrix-models with four life stages (seeds, seedlings/juvenile plants, non-flowering adult plants, flowering adults) predicted population growth rates close to zero, with long doubling times. To further assess seed-to-seedling transitions, we measured and weighed Sarracenia seeds, and conducted a greenhouse experiment on density-dependent dynamics of newly germinated seedlings of S. purpurea.