• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.564-577
• /
• 2017

We investigated whether external environmental factors acted as a trigger for flowering in the draft bamboo (Sasa borealis (Hack.) Makino) blooming area of Mt. Baekwoon located in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province. We then considered the cause for flowering, flowering patterns and life history strategies of the draft bamboo based on the investigation. There were no differences in soil, physical conditions, and light amount between the draft bamboo flowering and non-flowering areas. The precipitation and temperature of the areas in Korea and Japan where it blossomed from 2014 to 2017 were similar to the normal year values (for the past 30 years). Moreover, most of the draft bamboo died after flowering on a large scale, but some did not, or some culms were developed again. In other words, the draft bamboo bloomed simultaneously regardless of external environmental factors, and most of the culms were dead, but some were left alive. Therefore, it is considered that the flowering is triggered by the specific genes (referred as to clock genes) expressed periodically by a biological clock rather than the external environmental factors. Meanwhile, the draft bamboos generally bloom on a large scale by synchronizing with other ones in the distance but may also bloom several times separately on a small scale. It may be a kind of an insurance system established to disperse the risk of failed sexual propagation when flowering once in a lifetime. The results reveal that the long-period monocarpy of the draft bamboo has been strengthened to optimize the sexual propagation to overcome the increased environmental instability caused by the expansion of distribution of tropical bamboos and bamboo species to the temperate regions.