Effect of transplant size on early survivorship

For restoration, desert perennials are typically grown from seed in the greenhouse for several months before getting transplanted to their destination sites. They often also receive irrigation to facilitate establishment. We asked if early survivorship of Ambrosia dumosa collected from 19 populations across the Mojave Desert depended on the initial canopy size of the transplants. In two gardens representative of moderate to high rainfall regimes, initially larger plants survived at higher rates. In the driest garden, transplants were initially bigger and survivorship was independent of size. Instead, survivorship was negatively correlated with annual precipitation at the population’s region of origin.