Flowering cycles of woody bamboos native to southern South America

Abstract

Neotropical woody bamboos range from northern Mexico to southern Argentina and Chile. The most interesting aspect of bamboo biology is their flowering habit. The species that are the most intriguing are those that manifest a cyclic pattern of gregarious flowering after long vegetative periods. The flowering cycle has been described in very few species. The goal was to identify mass flowering events of woody bamboo species native to Argentina and neighboring areas, and to estimate the flowering cycle of each species. Sixteen species were surveyed: Chusquea culeou, C. deficiens, C. lorentziana, C. montana, C. quila, C. ramosissima, C. tenella, C. valdiviensis; Colanthelia rhizantha; Guadua chacoensis, G. paraguayana, G. trinii; Merostachys clausenii, M. multiramea, Rhipidocladum neumannii and R. racemiflorum. To reconstruct flowering dates, information from literature and herbarium collections was consulted and more than 990 records were gathered. Flowering cycles were estimated by recording the intervals between reported flowering events. Evidence of regular flowering cycles of ca. 30 years was found for most of the species considered. There is a remarkable concentration of flowering cycles about multiples of 15-16 years. Flowering synchrony among different species of woody bamboos was recorded for the first time in South America.

Evidence for an Early Origin of Vernalization Responsiveness in Temperate Pooideae Grasses

“…Regardless, we assume it unlikely that the ancestor of Bambusoideae and Pooideae used cold as a flowering cue. This is largely based on the tropical reconstruction of the BambusoideaeEhrhartoideae-Pooideae clade and the largely unpredictable timing of flowering in many bamboos (Nadguada et al, 1990;Guerreiro 2014;Veller et al, 2015). Furthermore, although some highland rice (Ehrhartoideae) varieties are chilling tolerant (Chawade et al, 2013), there are no examples of vernalization-responsive rice populations.…”

“…As outgroups, the two bamboo species Chusquea culeou and Chusquea latifolia were coded as nonresponsive to vernalization in flowering based on previous studies (Guerreiro, 2014). To account for phylogenetic uncertainty, 200 rooted trees with branch lengths were selected from two independent runs of Bayesian post-burn-in trees and used to assess different models of character evolution.…”

Ecological consequences of an unusual simultaneous masting of Araucaria araucana and Chusquea culeou in North‐West Patagonia, Argentina

“…; Marchesini et al . ; Guerreiro , ). Several native species of rodents and birds are able to consume seeds of A. araucana and C. culeou , including four species of sigmodontine rodents, several finches and sparrows and the austral parakeet Enicognathus ferrugineus, as well as introduced mammals such as wild boar Sus scrofa, rats Rattus norvegicus and R. rattus , and domestic ungulates (Shepherd & Ditgen , ; Sage et al .…”

“…). Examples include mast fruiting by trees and herbs in tropical, temperate and arid ecosystems varying in scale and predictability (Kelly ; Guerreiro ). Community interactions usually change in response to these regional perturbations occurring during relatively short‐term periods (Schmidt & Ostfeld ).…”

A worldwide phylogenetic classification of the Poaceae (Gramineae) II: An update and a comparison of two 2015 classifications

“…Culms develop in two phases: first, new, unbranched shoots bearing a culm leaf at each node emerge from the soil and elongate to their full height; second, the culms become lignified and aerial branches develop and produce foliage leaves. Woody bamboos all have bisexual spikelets and usually exhibit gregarious flowering followed by monocarpy after long vegetative cycles (Guerreiro, 2014;Clark et al, 2015). The two tribes differ, however, in their patterns of branch development and cytology and to a lesser extent, rhizome morphology.…”