10.5061/DRYAD.SF7M0CG25
Howard, Cody
0000-0001-7662-9102
Florida Museum of Natural History
Cellinese, Nico
Florida Museum of Natural History
Tunicate bulb size variation in monocots explained by temperature and phenology
Dryad
dataset
2019
geophytes
hysteranthy
monocots
synanthy
tunicate bulbs
Underground storage organs
2021-01-02T00:00:00Z
2020-03-02T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5996
156074 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Plants bulbs are modified shoot systems comprised of short internodes with
apical bud(s) surrounded by layers of leaf bases. Bulb diameters can vary
greatly, with overall bulb size playing a role in flower formation as well
as resource allocation. Despite the importance of bulb size to the overall
fitness of an individual, evolutionary and ecological aspects of this
trait have been almost completely neglected. Examining over 2500 herbarium
vouchers for 115 selected species, we analyzed monocot tunicate bulb size
within a phylogenetic context in order to investigate its evolutionary
significance. We recorded two bulb diameter optima and observed that as
bulb size increases taxa inhabit warmer areas with less temperature
seasonality. Furthermore, we found that hysteranthous taxa, a habit where
leaves emerge separately from flowers, exhibit overall larger bulbs
potentially due to reliance upon belowground stored resources to flower
rather than on current environmental inputs. This work highlights the
importance of including the belowground portion of plants into ecological
and evolutionary studies in order to gain a more complete understanding of
the evolution of plant forms and functions.
Data collected from herbarium specimens and available climatic data