Streamside trees: responses of male, female and hybrid cottonwoods to flooding |
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| Authors: | Nielsen Julie L Rood Stewart B Pearce David W Letts Matthew G Jiskoot Hester |
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| Institution: | Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada T1K 3M4. |
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| Abstract: | Cottonwoods, riparian poplars, are dioecious and prior studies have indicated that female poplars and willows can be more abundant than males in low-elevation zones, which are occasionally flooded. We investigated the response to flooding of clonal saplings of 12 male and 9 female narrowleaf cottonwoods (Populus angustifolia) grown for 15 weeks in a greenhouse, along with three females of a co-occurring native hybrid (Populus?×?jackii?=?Populus deltoides?×?Populus balsamifera). Three water-level treatments were provided, with substrate inundation as the flood treatment. In the non-flooded condition, the hybrids produced about four-fold more dry weight (DW) than the narrowleaf cottonwoods (P??P. angustifolia male?>?P.?×?jackii female. This indicates that narrowleaf cottonwoods are relatively flood tolerant and suggests that females are more flood tolerant than males. We propose the concept of 'strategic positioning', whereby the seed-producing females could be better adapted to naturally flooded, low-elevation streamside zones where seedling recruitment generally occurs. |
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