早春类短命植物的研究进展

早春类短命植物是生长于温带落叶阔叶林和针阔混交林下的一类草本植物,在早春迅速开花展叶,在初夏时完成结实和种子传播,随着上层乔木展叶,早春类短命植物地上部分迅速枯萎。这些植物主要分布于东亚、北美。早春类短命植物的抗寒性,繁殖策略以及光合作用和呼吸作用等方面均表现出一定的生态特性。文章总结了北温带早春类短命植物的科属及其分布情况,同时对早春类短命植物在区系分类、繁殖生态学、生理生态学等方面的研究进展进行了介绍,为早春类短命植物抗寒基因资源在农作物中的利用提供一定参考。

Research advance in spring ephemerals

Spring ephemerals are termed to those herbs which grow in understory of deciduous forest and mixed broadleaf-conifer forest who take advantage of the high light of early spring. Sprouting and blooming just after snow melt, their seeds soon become ripe and can be dispersed successfully in early summer before the canopy’s closure. Most of them are confined to East Asia and North America. They share some interesting and special ecological characters in the tolerance of chilling. the reproductive strategies. and in photosynthesis and respiration. The studies on them in floristic analysis, reproductive ecology, and physiological ecology were reviewed and the genera of the spring ephemerals in the north temperate zone and their distribution were summarized in this paper. The ability of sprouting and growing at low temperature make it possible that their genes became a resourceful pool of chilling resistance which can be exploited for gene engineering to increase the chilling resistance of certain crops.