A study was undertaken between 1986-2023 were plant size and inflorescence production were monitored for the whole reproductive lifespans of N = 128 individuals of the Mediterranean woody shrub Lavandula latifolia (Lamiaceae) to address the following questions: Did individuals vary in lifetime trajectories of size and fecundity?, and Were parameters describing individual trajectories significant predictors of cumulative lifetime reproduction? The study site was in a mixed woodland of Pinus nigra and Quercus rotundifolia in the Sierra de Cazorla, Jaén province, southeastern Spain (site coordinates 37.9612ºN, 2.8847ºW). All plants were checked every summer (August-September) between 1987-2023. On each occasion, individuals found dead were digged up, collected, and their age at the time of death determined by ring counting. For each individual that remained alive, the number of inflorescences produced in the current year was counted and, on the even years, their size was assessed by measuring the two major axes of the canopy and then computing the area of the horizontal projection by assimilating the shape to an ellipse. The birth year of every monitored individual was determined by substracting the age at death from the year of death, and this information was then used to retrospectively compute the age of every plant in each study year. These data were then merged with those on yearly plant fecundity (number of inflorescences) and plant size measurements (estimated canopy area) to obtain individual lifetime profiles of size and fecundity in relation to current age.

PID2022-141530NB-C22, DISTEPIC; PROMETEO-2021/040, FocScales

Peer reviewed