Shefferson, Kull, and Tali 2006

		Shefferson, R.P. and K. Tali. 2007. Dormancy is associated with decreased
		adult survival in the burnt orchid, Neotinea ustulata. Journal of Ecology 95:217- 225.

Summary
1 Prolonged dormancy, a condition in which herbaceous perennial plants do not
sprout for more than a year, has only been described to any great extent in long-lived
clonal species, particularly in the family Orchidaceae. However, some short-lived,
partly clonal or non-clonal perennials also experience dormancy, and their shorter life
spans and reduced or absent clonality may change the life history costs and benefits
of this phenomenon.

2 We explored the life history context of dormancy in one such plant, Neotinea
ustulata. A total of 1013 plants were monitored in five populations across Estonia
between 1993 and 2005. Cormack–Jolly–Seber (CJS) and multistate analyses, two
statistical methods to estimate demographic parameters in open populations, were
conducted to estimate the probabilities of survival, dormancy and state transition
among flowering, vegetative and dormant states among the populations.

3 The best-fit CJS model suggested that dormancy varied among populations
unpredictably, while survival varied in parallel among populations across time. Mean
survival was 0.727±0.115 (±SE) and mean dormancy was 0.543±0.129.

4 Multi-state analyses suggested that survival varied in parallel with life history state
across all populations, with flowering plants surviving almost completely (0.999±0.
007) and dormant plants being the least likely to survive (0.684±0.042). Vegetative
plants were found to be intermediate (0.793±0.051). All plants were likely to revert to a
dormant state (range 0.451±0.085–0.812±0.053).

5 Dormancy appears to be maladaptive in N. ustulata, although we suggest that it may
still be adaptive as a bet-hedging trait if it results in substantially lower variability in
survival and fitness over the long term. We suggest that conservation measures
aimed at preserving populations of dormancy-prone plants be linked to censuses
focusing on detecting and estimating dormancy levels because high levels of
dormancy indicate a low annual survival.

Article copyright notice: © 2006 by the British Ecological Society.

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Shefferson, Kull, and Tali 2006