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Heat accumulation in hollow Arctic flowers: possible microgreenhouse effects in syncalyces of campions (Silene spp. (Caryophyllaceae)) and zygomorphic sympetalous corollas of louseworts (Pedicularis spp. (Orobanchaceae))

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Abstract

Near-ground temperatures strongly influence Arctic plant growth, reproduction, maturation and phenological relations with pollinators and herbivores. Those temperatures become further elevated within plant parts through passive solar heating, e.g. dish-shaped blossoms that focus insolation and heat-trapping pubescent structures. Other Arctic plants gain heat in hollow structures that possibly function as microgreenhouses. Arctic plants with hollow flowers in which intrafloral temperatures and temperature excesses (i.e. above nearby air) were recorded are Silene sorensenis and S. uralensis (Caryophyllaceae) with globose syncalyces, and Pedicularis langsdorfii and P. capitata (Orobanchaceae) with sympetalous corollas. The flowers heated passively, as microgreenhouses, in sunshine but not under cloudy conditions. Lateral orientation to insolation maximizes intrafloral heating in Pedicularis spp. Temperature excesses up to about 6 °C probably accelerate development of the plants’ reproductive organs (gynoecium, androecium, fruits, seeds) through 25% additional heat units (growing degree days above 0°C) over the High Arctics short, cool, active season. How these phenomena exacerbate the effects of climate change remains to be assessed.

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Acknowledgements

I have great pleasure to thank the late Professor B. Hocking (my dissertation supervisor) and Dr. Philip Corbet (in charge of the operation at Hazen Camp in 1966) who encouraged my interest in intrafloral micrometeorology. Research was funded by National Research Council of Canada grant to B. Hocking (NRC A-2560) with logistical support from the Canadian Defence Research Board. More recently, support has come from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Individual Discovery Grant No. RGPIN-2018-04820 to me). I thank Dr. C. van der Kooi for urging me to publish and share my half-century-old findings. I also thank C. Coates and M. Larson for help in preparing this submission. Three anonymous reviewers and the Editor-in-Chief of Polar Biology helped greatly in polishing the manuscript.

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  1. School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada

    Peter G. Kevan

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Correspondence to Peter G. Kevan.

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This research was conducted under the standards set forth by the University of Alberta, the granting agencies which supported the work and the Canadian Defence Research Board (Operation Hazen-Tanquary) for use of facilities at Hazen Camp and Tanquary Fjord at the time. The research was completed before the establishment of Quttinirpaaq National Park and before permissions from the Government of Nunuvut and local jurisdictions, Qikiqtaalik and Aujutituq, were required.

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Kevan, P.G. Heat accumulation in hollow Arctic flowers: possible microgreenhouse effects in syncalyces of campions (Silene spp. (Caryophyllaceae)) and zygomorphic sympetalous corollas of louseworts (Pedicularis spp. (Orobanchaceae)). Polar Biol 43, 2101–2109 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02772-6

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