PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 31: Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Species
Thursday, August 11, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Exhibit Hall 220 A-E, Level 2, Palais des congrès de Montréal

Survival and reproductive effort of Clitoria fragrans relative to fire history.

Lewis, Michelle^*,1, Stout, Jack¹, ¹ University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL

ABSTRACT- Clitoria fragrans is a federally listed perennial herb endemic to Florida. We have studied the life history and local distribution of the species at Avon Park Air Force Bombing Range for 3 years, providing the first quantitative data on these characteristics for this species. We examine uniquely marked individuals on 7 permanent transects weekly from March until September or October. These transects vary in fire frequency and season. Flowering phenology, seed production and predation, and yearly survival of individuals vary with the season and frequency of fire events. Clitoria fragrans has a mixed breeding system; both cleistogamous (closed, self-pollinated) and chasmogamous (open, out-crossed) flowers may be found on a single plant. The frequency and survivorship of these flower types depends on fire history. Cleistogamous flowers are more frequent in the annual flowering cycle; however, chasmogamous flowers may increase in frequency following a fire event. Plants in long unburned sites may only rarely produce cleistogamous flowers. Both flower types produce viscous seeds of approximately the same size that disperse ballistically. Our survival data support the observation that Clitoria fragrans is a long-lived perennial with modest levels of recruitment.

Key words: clitoria fragrans, fire