10.5061/DRYAD.D51C5B04Q
Eisen, Katherine
0000-0002-7991-2015
Cornell University
Siegmund, Gregor-Fausto
0000-0002-8967-8816
Cornell University
Watson, Maxine
Indiana University Bloomington
Geber, Monica
0000-0002-0885-7290
Cornell University
Variation in the location and timing of experimental severing demonstrates
that the persistent rhizome serves multiple functions in a clonal forest
understory herb
Dryad
dataset
2021
bud bank
mayapple
Preformation
shoot production
shoot size
physiological integration
FOS: Biological sciences
National Science Foundation
https://ror.org/021nxhr62
DGE-1650441
Indiana University
https://ror.org/01kg8sb98
Cornell University
https://ror.org/05bnh6r87
2021-11-01T00:00:00Z
2021-11-01T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5636013
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5636024
58946 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
1. In clonal plants, persistent rhizomes can serve multiple purposes,
including resource storage, modulation of heterogenous resource
distributions, maintenance of bud banks and promotion of recovery from
disturbance. Clonal plants are commonly long-lived and, in temperate
zones, often exhibit organ preformation. Thus, investigations of how the
timing of disturbance to the rhizome affects plant performance must occur
over multiple growing seasons, but these types of studies are rare. 2. We
conducted a field experiment to examine how the persistent rhizome
supports the existing shoot, new ramet production, and recovery from
damage using mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum; Berberidaceae), a common
herbaceous perennial of low-light forest understories in Eastern North
America. Mayapple maintains a long-lived rhizome and exhibits a
developmentally-programmed seasonal pattern of resource transport and new
ramet initiation. We varied both the position and timing of rhizome
severing in rhizome systems with terminal sexual or vegetative shoots, and
tracked plants for two years following severing. 3. The location and
timing of severing affected both plant persistence (production of new
shoots) and performance (leaf area), with effects differing for new shoots
at the front vs. the back of the rhizome system. Across years, severing
location and past years’ shoot size influenced plant persistence and
performance, while the effect of timing of severing diminished; initial
sexual status had little effect on rhizome system response that was not
accounted for by initial leaf area. Severing generally led to the
establishment of two independent rhizome systems. Relative to
unmanipulated control systems, these two systems had more total leaf area,
but less average leaf area per system. 4. Synthesis. Our results point to
the rhizome as a resource integrator that affects plant responses to
disturbance immediately following damage and in subsequent growing
seasons. Rhizome bud age and/or subtending rhizome size, and developmental
program influence responses to disturbance. While the effects of
experimental disturbance on plant performance decreased two years after
disturbance, further long-term investigation is needed to fully understand
the demographic consequences of damage to persistent rhizomes.
These data were collected in a field study of mayapple conducted in
Indiana. We provide all data that were collected, including individuals
where there were missing values that we excluded from our analyses. The
data file is the raw data
We have included both the data file and an additional ReadMe file that
contains descriptions of all of the columns present in the dataset,
including the units and meanings of NA values for each othem.