A review of adaptive strategies of clonal plants to interspecific competition

Abstract

Clonal plants have many advantages over non-clonal plants, such as longevity, spatial mobility and two modes of reproduction. Therefore, clonal plants are dominant or constructive species in many natural ecosystems. We re- view the adaptive strategies of clonal plants to interspecific competition and elaborate the differences of competi- tive ability. It accounts for the responses to interspecific competition from those aspects, including modular mor- phology, clonal architecture, reproductive strategy and the relationship between physiological integration and in- terspecific competition. Those factors lead to different results, such as diversities of experimental materials, con- ditions of habitat, design of experiments and dynamic spatial changes of morphology and physiology of clonal plants. Key issues that need research are proposed, including clonal plants and interspecific competition under global change and its molecular ecological mechanism.