. 2019 Sep 10;7:e7574. doi: 10.7717/peerj.7574

Table 2. Variation in life history traits (vegetative traits and reproductive outputs) of A. spicatum among three populations in Annapurna Conservation Area, Central Nepal. Values are mean ± SE (n = 60).

^∗Population comparisons were based on either ¹Kruskal–Wallis tests or ²one-way ANOVA. Values for each trait among the populations with same superscript letter do not vary significantly at p = 0.05 level based on multiple comparison tests after¹Kruskal Wallis and ²ANOVA.

Traits	Subalpine (3,000–3,300 m)	Lower alpine (3,400–3,700 m)	Alpine (3,800–4,200 m)	χ2∕F value*	P-value
Leaf number¹	12.05 ± 0.33^a	10.9 ± 0.46^a	6.35 ± 0.18^b	40.22	<0.001
Plant height (cm)²	156.43 ± 5.62^a	151.28 ± 5.29^a	81.77 ± 4.20^b	67.47	<0.001
Stem girth (mm)¹	10.04 ± 0.95^a	9.60 ± 0.68^a	6.62 ± 0.25^b	12.51	0.001
Length of floral axis (cm)¹	19.67 ± 0.86^a	19.13 ± 1.42^a	10.01 ± 0.60^b	33.18	<0.001
Average leaf area (cm²)¹	175.36 ± 14.21^a	190.98 ± 10.98^a	91.57 ± 4.95^b	31.26	<0.001
No. of buds per plant¹	29.77 ± 10.03^a	9.14 ± 2.89^ab	6.00 ± 1.19^b	12.48	0.001
No. of flowers per plant¹	15.85 ± 4.44	10.61 ± 2.03	6.20 ± 0.71	5.29	0.070
No. of fruits per plant¹	22.15 ± 6.80^a	17.5 ± 4.56^a	4.12 ± 0.67^b	10.72	0.004
Total reproductive parts per plant¹	39.85 ± 7.31	26.75 ± 5.07	16.45 ± 1.71	4.89	0.086
Number of daughter tubers per plant¹	1.6 ± 0.19	1.85 ± 0.25	1.80 ± 0.27	0.45	0.799
Volume of daughter tuber (mm³)¹	272.66 ± 25.97^a	246.41 ± 41.94^a	109.67 ± 12.29^b	25.88	<0.001
Dry biomass of a daughter tuber (g)²	17.88 ± 2.83^a	12.18 ± 0.82^a	4.58 ± 0.55^b	32.58	<0.001
Total dry biomass of daughter tubers per plant (g)²	21.92 ± 3.47^a	16.09 ± 1.32^a	5.60 ± 0.86^b	27.02	<0.001
Total dry biomass of mother tubers per plant (g)²	8.04 ± 1.03^a	7.85 ± 0.79^a	1.87 ± 0.21^b	40.29	<0.001
Total belowground dry biomass (including daughter and mother tubers) per plant (g)²	29.97 ± 4.39^a	23.95 ± 1.83^a	7.86 ± 0.95^b	36.14	<0.001
Total above ground dry biomass per plant (g)²	23.61 ± 2. 90^a	21.95 ± 1.46^a	9.95 ± 1.05^b	16.22	<0.001
Ratio of dry biomass of belowground and aboveground parts²	1.34 ± 0.12^a	1.13 ± 0.07^a	0.86 ± 0.07^b	7.00	<0.01
Ratio of dry biomass of reproductive and aerial vegetative parts²	0.21 ± 0.03^a	0.27 ± 0.04^a	0.46 ± 0.05^b	9.61	<0.001