Switching from monocarpic to polycarpic perennial life histories in a cold climate: a commentary on 'Physiological costs of clonal growth'
Abstract
Monocarpic plants are those that reproduce generatively only once per lifespan, and then die. Annual plants last one season, in which they seed and die, whereas biennials flower, seed and die in their second season.
If the time to generative reproduction in monocarpic plants is longer than 1-2 years, we define these plants as monocarpic perennials. Monocarpic perennials are very rare in cold regions (e.g. alpine and arctic zones), probably due to unpredictable and harsh weather conditions.
According to published evidence, with increasing environmental harshness plants may either prolong their vegetative rosette stage for a very long time to finally flower spectacularly before dying [e.g. Puya raimondii in the Andes (Jabaily and Sytsma, 2013), Frasera speciosa in the Rocky Mountains (Inouye 1986) and Campanula thyrsoides in the Alps (Kuss et al., 2008)] or switch partly to polycarpic mode [e.g.
Erysimum capitatum in the Rocky Mountains (Kim and Donohue, 2011) and Saxifraga longifolia in the Pyrenees (Cotado and Munné-Bosch, 2020)].