Between-year variation in seed weights across altitudes in the high-alpine plant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Eritrichium nanum</Emphasis>

Seed weight is a prominent life history trait of plants affecting dispersal, establishment, and survival. In alpine environments, the few studies investigating the effect of elevation on seed weight within species have mainly detected a decrease in seed weight with increasing elevation. This relationship is generally attributed to the adverse climate at high elevations. In order to test this hypothesis, we analyzed seed weight variation across altitudes (2,435–3,055 m a.s.l.) in two consecutive years that differed in weather conditions in the high-alpine cushion plant Eritrichium nanum. We found a significant reduction in seed weight with increasing elevation in both years, but in the growing season with more adverse weather conditions, the reduction was more substantial than in the more favorable year. We conclude that alpine plants may be able to produce well-developed seeds at low elevations in almost all years, independent of weather conditions, whereas reproduction through seeds is potentially limited to years of favorable weather at high elevation.