{"title":"Clonal integration facilitates the expansion of Hydrocotyle vulgaris from a limited space to a larger area","authors":"Bing‐Nan Zhao, Zhi‐Huan Chen, Zhi‐Hang Liu, Xue‐Ge He, Zi‐Qi Chen, Xin‐Yue Gu, Chao Si","doi":"10.1111/1442-1984.12478","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Clonal integration is an important ecological advantage of clonal plants. To ask whether clonal integration can help invasive plants escape space limitations, we tested the hypothesis that it can promote the growth of apical ramets when their connected basal ramets grow in limited space. We conducted a greenhouse experiment on the common perennial herb <jats:italic>Hydrocotyle vulgaris</jats:italic>. Clonal fragments consisting of pairs of connected ramets grew with basal ramets in three different sizes of pots (small, medium, and large) and apical ramets in large pots, and the connection between ramets was either severed or left intact. Pot size significantly affected the growth of basal ramets such that the biomass, number of leaves and flowers, and stolon length were in general greater in medium pots than in large and small pots when stolons were intact and were greater in medium and large pots than in small pots when stolons were severed. Furthermore, pot size interacted with severance to affect the performance of <jats:italic>H. vulgaris.</jats:italic> When the basal ramets grew in small pots, the intact stolon resulted in a significant promotion of apical ramet growth, but such positive effect was not found when the basal ramets grew in medium and large pots. Our results suggest that <jats:italic>H. vulgaris</jats:italic> is able to promote the growth of apical ramets to occupy the surrounding areas through clonal integration when the space where basal ramets grow is limited.","PeriodicalId":54601,"journal":{"name":"Plant Species Biology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Plant Species Biology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1442-1984.12478","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Clonal integration is an important ecological advantage of clonal plants. To ask whether clonal integration can help invasive plants escape space limitations, we tested the hypothesis that it can promote the growth of apical ramets when their connected basal ramets grow in limited space. We conducted a greenhouse experiment on the common perennial herb Hydrocotyle vulgaris. Clonal fragments consisting of pairs of connected ramets grew with basal ramets in three different sizes of pots (small, medium, and large) and apical ramets in large pots, and the connection between ramets was either severed or left intact. Pot size significantly affected the growth of basal ramets such that the biomass, number of leaves and flowers, and stolon length were in general greater in medium pots than in large and small pots when stolons were intact and were greater in medium and large pots than in small pots when stolons were severed. Furthermore, pot size interacted with severance to affect the performance of H. vulgaris. When the basal ramets grew in small pots, the intact stolon resulted in a significant promotion of apical ramet growth, but such positive effect was not found when the basal ramets grew in medium and large pots. Our results suggest that H. vulgaris is able to promote the growth of apical ramets to occupy the surrounding areas through clonal integration when the space where basal ramets grow is limited.
期刊介绍:
Plant Species Biology is published four times a year by The Society for the Study of Species Biology. Plant Species Biology publishes research manuscripts in the fields of population biology, pollination biology, evolutionary ecology, biosystematics, co-evolution, and any other related fields in biology. In addition to full length papers, the journal also includes short research papers as notes and comments. Invited articles may be accepted or occasion at the request of the Editorial Board. Manuscripts should contain new results of empirical and/or theoretical investigations concerning facts, processes, mechanisms or concepts of evolutionary as well as biological phenomena. Papers that are purely descriptive are not suitable for this journal. Notes & comments of the following contents will not be accepted for publication: Development of DNA markers. The journal is introducing ''Life history monographs of Japanese plant species''. The journal is dedicated to minimizing the time between submission, review and publication and to providing a high quality forum for original research in Plant Species Biology.