6-year periodicity and variable synchronicity in a mass-flowering plant6年周期性和变量同步mass-flowering植物.pdfVIP

6-Year Periodicity and Variable Synchronicity in a Mass- Flowering Plant 1 2,3,4 5 1 Satoshi Kakishima *, Jin Yoshimura , Hiroko Murata , Jin Murata 1 Botanical Gardens, Graduate School of Science, the University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, 2 Department of Systems Engineering, Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan, 3 Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York, United States of America, 4 Marine Biosystems Research Center, Chiba University, Kamogawa, Chiba, Japan, 5 Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Setsunan University, Hirakata, Osaka, Japan Abstract Periodical organisms, such as bamboos and periodical cicadas, are very famous for their synchronous reproduction. In bamboos and other periodical plants, the synchronicity of mass-flowering and withering has been often reported indicating these species are monocarpic (semelparous) species. Therefore, synchronicity and periodicity are often suspected to be fairly tightly coupled traits in these periodical plants. We investigate the periodicity and synchronicity of Strobilanthes flexicaulis, and a closely related species S. tashiroi on Okinawa Island, Japan. The genus Strobilanthes is known for several periodical species. Based on 32-year observational data, we confirmed that S. flexicaulis is 6-year periodical mass-flowering monocarpic plant. All the flowering plants had died after flowering. In contrast, we found that S. tashiroi is a polycarpic perennial with no mass-flowering from three-year individual tracking. We also surveyed six local populations of S. flexicaulis and found variation in the synchronicity from four highly synchronized populations (.98% of