Delayed Flowering in Bamboo: Evidence from Fargesia qinlingensis in the Qinling Mountains of China

Abstract

Gregarious flowering of bamboo species impacts ecosystem properties and conservation, but documentation of these periodic events is difficult. Here, we compare the characteristics of flowering sites and un-flowered patches of an arrow bamboo (Fargesia qinlingensis) in the Qinling Mountains, China, over a 5-year period (2003–2007) after a mast flowering event (2003). We examined flowering culm and seedling characteristics in relation to questions regarding the evolution of delayed flowering. Density of live culms decreased over the 5 years in both flowering sites and un-flowered patches. New shoots regenerated only in un-flowered patches. Chemical constituent allocation varied among culm parts (stems, branches, and leaves). Crude protein and extract ether in branches and leaves were less in flowering culms than in un-flowered culms. Seedling density was lower than expected based on floret counts, suggesting predation of seeds. Seedling density was significantly greater in flowering sites than in un-flowered patches and decreased over time. Seedlings performed better in flowering sites than in un-flowered patches based on their height, leaf number per seedling, and average leaf length, while fertilization on flowering sites had no significant effect on seedling growth, suggesting a saturation of resources. This study suggested that the characteristics of bamboos and bamboo stands were dramatically altered during this flowering event, enhancing seedling establishment and growth, and supporting mostly the habitat modification hypothesis of delayed reproduction.

Identification, characterization and gene expression analyses of important flowering genes related to photoperiodic pathway in bamboo

“…An important consequence of gregarious flowering is enormous seed setting, which results in a rapid increase in rat populations and thereby enormous crop loss in the vicinity that might culminate in famine [ 4 ]. The sudden induction of flowering also results in disappearance of large areas of vegetation that creates a major ecological imbalance in the surrounding plant community [ 5 , 6 ]. Therefore, development of molecular markers for detecting possible induction of flowering will be of great help for proper forest management and ensuring food safety.…”

Flowering Cycle of Chusquea Mollis L.G. Clark (Magnifoliae, Chusqueinae, Bambusae) in the Venezuelan Andes

“…Los bambúes leñosos se han catalogados típicamente como monocárpicos; sin embargo, excepciones a esta regla son comunes en bambúes templados y tropicales, en los cuales sobrevive una proporción variable de ramets y rizomas después de la floración (Pearson et al, 1994;Judziewicz et al, 1999;Kitamura & Kawahara, 2009;Miyazaki et al 2009;Montti el al., 2011;Clark et al, 2015;Ely, comunicación personal). Los ciclos de floración en bambúes leñosos varían en función de su forma de vida, la latitud y las características genéticas propias de cada especie (Franklin, 2004;Tachiki et al, 2015;Wang et al 2016). A grandes rasgos, se reconocen tres patrones que se describen a continuación:…”

“…En este tipo de eventos, la gran mayoría de las poblaciones concentran su floración en un mismo año, originando un pico de floración, producto de la activación de procesos regulatorios endógenos propios de la especie, que pueden estar influenciados por factores ambientales (Franklin, 2004). El tamaño y la distribución espacial de los genets, los procesos de competencia intraespecífica, limitaciones en la dispersión de los frutos y la reducción del fitness de la especia por entrecruzamiento pueden alterar la sincronización de las poblaciones, extendiendo la duración el evento de floración Wang et al 2016;Tachiki et al, 2015).…”

“…2-Floración esporádica o asincrónica, representa una variación una variación del patrón anterior, donde no se ha logrado establecer un patrón en especies monocárpicas, dada la asincronía en los ciclos floración (Judziewicz et al, 1999;Kitamura & Kawahara, 2009;Abe & Shibata, 2012;Mizuki et al 2014;Wang et al, 2016). Las causas de esta asincronía no han sido dilucidadas con exactitud; entre los factores que se manejan está la modificación de procesos regulatorios endógenos (mutaciones, supresión y/o expresión de genes de floración y factores de transcripción) (Zhang et al, 2012;Zeng et al, 2015;Wysocki et al, 2016).…”

Differentiating Thamnocalamus Munro from Fargesia Franchet emend. Yi (Bambusoideae, Poaceae): novel evidence from morphological and neural-network analyses

“…Yi , Thamnocalamus Munro and Yushania Keng f., of woody bamboos 14 . Infrequent flowering events (flowering cycles of up to 120 years) 1 or flowering only once before culm death, which is one of the special traits in bamboo, restricts the opportunity to gather fresh reproductive material 8 , 15 , 16 . In addition, inconsistent results among taxonomists usually stem from different interpretations of the characteristics, and confusion with regard to terminology 17 , 18 might result in a virtual species being defined as different species.…”