Speaker: Emeritus Professor Dave Kelly, University of Canterbury

Aciphylla is a genus of about 40 species, all but two endemic to New Zealand.  Aciphylla species show mast seeding (synchronous variable reproduction across years within a site). This is unexpected, because the plants are insect-pollinated, relatively short-lived, herbaceous, and dioecious, all of which are globally uncommon in masting species. Here I address some questions about their ecology, based on long-term monitoring since 1996 of flowering in permanent plots for three species (A. aurea, A. scott-thomsonii, and A. monroi). (1) How variable and synchronous are they (sexes within a population, populations within a species, and between species)? (2) What weather cues trigger heavy flowering? (3) How do the true (long-term) sex ratios in a population compare with what is seen in single years? (4) Do males flower more often than females? (5) How long-lived are plants? (6) How do plants respond to fire? (The Ōhau plot has now been burned twice).

Meeting is in-person and via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89547154619?pwd=bE0zRXRWSXBBUkVoUjdPcElJNXlJUT09