Poster

         Botanical History

: Indicators of climate change: A comparison of the reproductive biology of Castilleja coccinea from 1833-2022 in glade and prairie habitats.

Presenting Author
Bermet Nurlan Kyzy
Description
The impact of climate change on plant morphology can vary in different habitats, and impact pollinator visitation and ultimately the reproductive success of a plant species. Therefore, in the same species in two different habitats, we could see differing levels of reproductive success. In this study, we examine the potential impact of climate change on the reproductive biology of C. coccinea from 1833-2022 in glade and prairie habitats at Shaw Natural Reserve in Gray Summit, MO. Morphological traits (plant height, number of inflorescences, and corolla span) were recorded in both the glade and prairie populations in 2021 and 2022. These were compared to herbarium specimens from the Missouri Botanical Gardens from 1833-2022. Pollinator observations, pollen load data, and hand pollination experiments were conducted in 2021 and 2022. Although morphology varies between years, the glade plants are consistently larger than the prairie plants, which suggests C. coccinea thrives in an arid habitat. This is consistent with our pollination results, which only found pollen limitation in one year in the prairie population. Although the main pollinator is the same for all populations. While C. coccinea does have a broad range of habitats it is successful in, the increased success in dry habitats suggests it could be useful in areas impacted by drought or other complications from climate change.