The Birth and Spread of a Plant Population

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The establishment and increase over a 20-year period of a new plant population is reported. The European perennial, Silene paradoxa L. (Caryophyllaceae), was introduced as 27 transplants in 1964 to a serpentine barren in western Washington [USA]. In 1983 nearly 1000 plants were present in size classes ranging from seedlings to the original transplants. The new colony is still vigorous and locally expanding its numbers. The implications of a recorded introduction and spread of a population are discussed; inferences on demographic and microevolutionary consequences of this founder population are examined.