The Optimum Distance for Plant Migration

Botanist, Jane Molofsky has conducted experiments in plant migration using a common N. American weed, Pennsylvania bittercress. The weed was a good candidate for study. It has a short two and a half month life cycle and its seeds burst forth from the parent, scattering a good distance. The experiment looks at the natural spacing required to sustain plant populations.

By varying the distance of available growth plots, the optimal distance for new populations to take hold could be analyzed. Sixteen generations of bittercress were grown. Plots placed too far from the parents did not receive enough migrants to establish a population, but plots too close to the parents simply produced one unified population. A distance in the middle was most conducive to forming new populations.

The findings could be used by ecologists to help determine the spacing of protected areas required to save endangered plant populations.

Link: Weed Surprises Scientists Studying Population Extinction from Newswise

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 3:20 PM on April 20, 2005

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