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Performance of a clonal species in patchy environments: effects of environmental context on yield at local and whole-plant scales

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 07:36 authored by Michael J Hutchings, Dushyantha K Wijesinghe
Yield of the clonal plant Glechoma hederacea was compared at different spatial scales, in heterogeneous and homogeneous environments providing the same amount of nutrients. For the heterogeneous treatments, environments were created with different patch sizes and different degrees of contrast in nutrient concentration between patches of different quality. Total clone yield differed by almost 2.5-fold across treatments, being highest in environments with large patches and high contrast, lowest in environments with small patches and high contrast, and intermediate under homogeneous conditions. Compared with plants in homogeneous conditions, there were significant increases or decreases in yield at all scales of measurement in many of the heterogeneous treatments. These effects on yield reflected a combination of local responses to growing conditions and modification of these responses due to physiological integration with other parts of the plant growing in contrasting conditions, supporting the proposal of de Kroon et al. (2005 New Phytol 166:73¿82). The results show that plant yield at all scales is strongly dependent on environmental context, and that maximum yield can only be realized under a limited range of heterogeneous conditions.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Evolutionary Ecology

ISSN

1573-8477

Issue

3

Volume

22

Page range

313-324

Pages

12.0

Department affiliated with

  • Biology and Environmental Science Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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