Klemow, K.M. 1987. SEED PRODUCTION AND JUVENILE SURVIVAL OF HERBS IN A LIMESTONE QUARRY: A TEST OF LIFE-HISTORY THEORY. Contributed paper: Pennsylvania Academy of Science meeting. Abstract: Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science 61:89.

According to life-history theory, monocarpic plants (those that reproduce once in their lives) are supposed to produce more seeds per year and have higher juvenile survival than polycarpic plants (those that reproduce more than once in their lives). To test that hypothesis, seed production and the survival of seeds and seedlings were examined from 1976 until 1981 for eight herbaceous plant species (four monocarps and four polycarps) growing in an abandoned limestone quarry near Syracuse, New York. Contrary to expectation, the monocarps did not have consistently higher seed production than the polycarps. Monocarps did have higher juvenile survival, but only when the survival of seeds was considered. Rates of seedling survival were similar between the two groups of plants. Based on these results, and on other empirical data, a new model was developed that relates seed production and juvenile survival for monocarps and polycarps.