Models de comportament fenològic als prats secs i a les brolles de l'àrea meridional de la Noguera

Abstract

The results of a phenological study on the xerophytic pastures and scrubs in the southern part of the Noguera country (W Catalonia) are presented. Phenological rhythms of such communities have been analyzed from a sequential record of events in the species constituting them. Three phenological periods including six phases have been taken in account: a) vegetative period (phase of seedling and young plant; leaf renewal and growing phase; resting phase); b) reproductive period (flowering phase; fruiting phase), and c) senescense and death period. The 84 studied taxa have been distributed into 5 groups according to their phenological pattern.
Most of the species start their active vegetative period in autumn, when the seasonal rains bring about the necessary soil moisture. Some others, however, avoid low temperatures delaying this phenological period until the end of winter. A prevailing bloom happens in spring, and fruiting and dispersal phases take place before summer. The water stress in this season forces most of the species to a resting phase. Only a few plants flower in summer, and such species display a longer blooming phase than those flowering in spring. For a few taxa, a quite different sequence between the two years of study has been observed, this fact being clearly related to the amount of earlyautumnal rainfall.
The phenological sequence of the studied communities is clearly connected to the marked seasonality of the Mediterranean climate. In the therophytic pastures a pronounced synchronization of events occurs, and in summer the vast majority of species are under the form of seeds. In the scrubs, where perennial evergreen plants make the most important part of the communities, there are not very pronounced physiognomic changes along the year. Moreover, each phenological phase lasts longer, overlapping one beyond the other, and in summer the resting period is not complete, thought dominant. Thus, two clearly different strategies can be envisaged in the two community types:
a prevailing opportunist behaviour in the therophytic pastures, where generally the plants complete all their biological cycle in the most favourable season, and
the acquisition of some independence from the marked Mediterranean seasonality in the open scrubs, through the pervivence, at least in part, of their vegetative structures all round the year.