Benefits and Costs of Vegetative and Sexual Reproduction in Perennial Plants: A Review of Literature

Abstract

ABSTRACT A number of perennial plant species can have different modes of reproduction, depending on environmental conditions. The objective of this paper is to review previously published literature regarding the benefits and costs of asexual (vegetative) and sexual reproduction in perennial plants, and to address which environmental conditions tend to favor each mode of reproduction in plants exhibiting both vegetative and sexual reproduction. Benefits of vegetative reproduction, through physiological integration among intraclonal ramets, may prolong the life in clones of individuals by spreading the risk of mortality over space. Costs of long-term integration may involve maintenance of connections and support of numerous daughter ramets at the expense of the parental clone. The depletion of genotypic variability within clonal populations through time makes them more susceptible to diseases, pathogens, and environmental stochasticity. However, benefits of sexual reproduction include genetic diversity, pr...