title: Global warming reduces plant reproductive output for temperate multi-inflorescence species on the Tibetan plateau.
abstract: • Temperature is projected to increase more during the winter than during the summer in cold regions. The effects of winter warming on reproductive effort have not been examined for temperate plant species. • Here, we report the results of experimentally induced seasonal winter warming (0.4 and 2.4°C increases in growing and nongrowing seasons, respectively, using warmed and ambient open-top chambers in a Tibetan Plateau alpine meadow) for nine indeterminate-growing species producing multiple (single-flowered or multi-flowered) inflorescences and three determinate-growing species producing single inflorescences after a 3-yr period of warming. • Warming reduced significantly flower number and seed production per plant for all nine multi-inflorescence species, but not for the three single-inflorescence species. Warming had an insignificant effect on the fruit to flower number ratio, seed size and seed number per fruit among species. The reduction in seed production was largely attributable to the decline in flower number per plant. The flowering onset time was unaffected for nine of the 12 species. Therefore, the decline in flower production and seed production in response to winter warming probably reflects a physiological response (e.g. metabolic changes associated with flower production). • Collectively, the data indicate that global warming may reduce flower and seed production for temperate herbaceous species and will probably have a differential effect on single- vs multi-inflorescence species.
authors.affiliation: ECORES Lab, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Yinzhan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: Junpeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.
authors.forename: Karl J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Niklas
authors.affiliation: ECORES Lab, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Guoyong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: ECORES Lab, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China.|Department of Biology, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: Shucun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D017753:Ecosystem; D057232:Global Warming; D056626:Inflorescence / Q000502:physiology*; D016014:Linear Models; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D010944:Plants / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D054817:Pollination / Q000502:physiology; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology; D012639:Seeds / Q000254:growth & development; D013045:Species Specificity; D018609:Tibet; D013997:Time Factors