Abstract
The aim of the study was to compare some life strategy traits of individuals of Purple Loosestrife <i>Lythrum salicaria</i> within three meadow populations existing under various habitat conditions. The study attempted to answer the following questions: Do different habitat conditions affect the biomass allocation between particular organs of individuals? Can the individuals belonging to different populations of the same species realise their own unique reproductive strategy, in other words, can their reproductive effort represent various levels? In the case of <i>L. salicaria</i> the reproductive effort, measured by the participation of infl orescence biomass in the biomass of aboveground parts of genets, exhibits similar values (14.2-15.1%) in all the study populations, despite their habitat conditions. This fact proves that at the population level, the reproductive effort is relatively stable. Great differences are visible in the case of particular individuals within each of the populations. Specific genets in a population, depending on the habitat microstructure and the biotic relations with other individuals both of their own and other species, may realise their own reproductive strategies, being a part of their life strategies.
Highlights
Life history of a species, referred to as its lifestyle, comprises the entire course of events in the life of an individual connected with successive stages of its development and growth, until its death (Harper, 1977)
The study attempts to answer the following questions: Do different habitat conditions affect the division of energy between particular organs of individuals? Can the individuals belonging to different populations of the same species realise their own unique reproductive strategy, in other words, can their reproductive effort represent various levels?
Purple Loosestrife Lythrum salicaria L. (Lythraceae) is a perennial clonal plant belonging to rhizocaulophytes (Łukasiewicz, 1962)
Summary
Life history of a species, referred to as its lifestyle, comprises the entire course of events in the life of an individual (genet) connected with successive stages of its development and growth, until its death (Harper , 1977). Each individual is affected by a different selection force, resulting from natural selection, both under the influence of habitat conditions, which change with different rate, and under the pressure of intra- and interspecific competition. These limitations condition the shaping of such a combination of life history traits which becomes a life strategy. At the level of an individual, a web of evolutionary trade-offs is formed, which is a result of the drive to reach maximum size and reproduction success on the one hand, and to adapt to the environment and last in time on the other (Silvertown and LovettDoust , 1993; Crawley , 1997)
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