Vegetative Dormancy in the Dynamics of Alpine Short-Lived Perennials: The Time Has Come

Local population structures of Androsace albana and Eritrichium caucasicum have been observed annually according to the known ontogenetic stages at permanent sites in the alpine belt of the Northwest Caucasus for 16 years (2009–2024). These data series have been long enough to reveal the effects of vegetative dormancy in the life cycle of this short-lived species, which required a revision of previous models and the characteristics derived from them. The revised models and expanded data enabled annual estimates of population viability to be refined, as well as long-term viability measures to be estimated as stochastic population growth rates in a randomly varying environment according to a previously developed “realistic model of randomness”. Accounting for plants that emerged from vegetative dormancy increased annual viability estimates in the revised models compared with previous models. Long-term viability measures in the form of stochastic population growth rates in a randomly varying environment (λS) show opposite effects in λS estimates for the both alpine species. There is no obvious explanation for these effects but the need for further research into vegetative dormancy as a mechanism of adaptation to stressful conditions is evident.