Abstract
BackgroundClonal plants are important in maintaining wetland ecosystems. The main growth types of clonal plants are the guerrilla and phalanx types. However, little is known about the effects of these different clonal growth types on plant plasticity in response to heterogeneous resource distribution. We compared the growth performance of clonal wetland plants exhibiting the two growth forms (guerrilla growth form: Scirpus yagara, Typha orientalis, Phragmites australis and Sparganium stoloniferum; phalanx growth form: Acorus calamus, Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani and Butomus umbellatus) grown in soil substrates that were either homogeneous or heterogeneous but had the same total amount of nutrients.ResultsWe found that the morphological traits (plant height, ramet number, spacer diameter and length) and biomass accumulation of the guerrilla clonal plants (T. orientalis) were significantly enhanced by heterogeneity, but those of the phalanx clonal plants (A. calamus, S. tabernaemontani and B. umbellatus) were not. The results showed that the benefits of environmental heterogeneity to clonal plants may be correlated with the type of clonal structure.ConclusionsGuerrilla clonal plants, which have a dispersed, flexible linear structure, are better suited to habitats with heterogeneous resources. Phalanx clonal plants, which form compact structures, are better suited to habitats with homogeneous resources. Thus, wetland clonal species with the guerrilla clonal structure benefit more from soil nutrient heterogeneity.
Highlights
Clonal plants are important in maintaining wetland ecosystems
Guerrilla clonal plants The heterogeneous soil treatment had a positive impact on the growth performance of guerrilla clonal plants
Higher biomass and spacer length were observed in P. australis in the heterogeneous soil treatment (Figs. 3 and 4)
Summary
Clonal plants are important in maintaining wetland ecosystems. The main growth types of clonal plants are the guerrilla and phalanx types. We compared the growth performance of clonal wetland plants exhibiting the two growth forms (guerrilla growth form: Scirpus yagara, Typha orientalis, Phragmites australis and Sparganium stoloniferum; phalanx growth form: Acorus calamus, Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani and Butomus umbellatus) grown in soil substrates that were either homogeneous or heterogeneous but had the same total amount of nutrients. Clonal growth forms dominate in many major biomes worldwide and are successful in wetland plant communities; clonal plants play important roles in maintaining wetland ecosystems [25, 29, 31]. Clonal plants can share resources (nutrients, water, etc.) among individual units through clonal integration, which increases plant survival and growth performance in habitats with different patterns of resource availability. Clonal plants can increase their viability through risk sharing
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