Talk, Workshop Populationbiology of the German Ecological Society (GFÖ), Kopenhagen: 2003-05-29 - 2003-06-01
Abstract:
Clonal plants are interesting objects to study allometric growth patterns. Many clonal plants share the capacity of considerable lateral spread through stoloniferous or rhizomatous growth. Translocation and storage of resources enables individual ramets to exploit locally favourable microsites while only a limited number of ramets might be supplied in infertile patches. Patches of intense competition, however, might be equally unfavourable. Do plants react to intense local competition by enhanced lateral growth one might refer to as a ‘strategy of escape’? We studied this question in a competition experiment using Hieracium pilosella and Carex arenaria. A comparison of single growing control plants with plants grown in competition revealed significant differences in allocation patterns to spreading structures like stolons and rhizomes. The results would support a ‘strategy of escape’, but clearly more data is needed to get an idea about the whole picture.