Western North American Naturalist Volume 64 Number 4 Article 8 10-29-2004 Dynamics of a dwarf bear-poppy (Arctomecon humilis) population over a sixteen-year period K. T. Harper Brigham Young University Renée Van Buren Utah Valley State College, Orem, Utah Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wnan Recommended Citation Harper, K. T. and Van Buren, Renée (2004) "Dynamics of a dwarf bear-poppy (Arctomecon humilis) population over a sixteen-year period," Western North American Naturalist: Vol. 64 : No. 4 , Article 8. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wnan/vol64/iss4/8 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Western North American Naturalist by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
[email protected],
[email protected]. Western North American Naturalist 64(4), © 2004, pp 482–491 DYNAMICS OF A DWARF BEAR-POPPY (ARCTOMECON HUMILIS) POPULATION OVER A SIXTEEN-YEAR PERIOD K.T. Harper1,2 and Renée Van Buren3 ABSTRACT.—A population of the dwarf bear-poppy (Arctomecon humilis Coville, Papaveraceae) at Red Bluff, Wash- ington County, Utah, was monitored twice annually between 1987 and 2002. This is a narrowly endemic, gypsophilous species that has been formally listed as endangered since 1979. During the 16 years of observation, density of this species has fluctuated between 3 and 1336 individuals on the 0.07-ha monitoring plot. Moderate to large recruitments of seedlings occurred in 1992, 1995, and 2001. Seedling recruitments from a large, long-lived seed bank are triggered by abundant precipitation during the February–April period.