Intraspecific competition and light effect on reproduction of Ligularia virgaurea, an invasive native alpine grassland clonal herb

Abstract

The relationship between sexual reproduction and clonal growth in clonal plants often shows up at the ramet level. However, only a few studies focus on the relationship at the genet level, which could finally account for evolution. The sexual reproduction and clonal growth of Ligularia virgaurea, a perennial herb widely distributed in the alpine grasslands of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau of China, were studied under different competition intensities and light conditions at the genet level through a potted experiment. The results showed that: (1) sexual reproduction did not depend on density or light, and increasing clonal growth with decreasing density and increasing light intensity indicated that intraspecific competition and light intensity may affect the clonal life history of L. virgaurea; (2) both sexual reproduction and clonal growth show a positive linear relationship with genet size under different densities and light conditions; (3) a threshold size is required for sexual reproduction and no evidence of a threshold size for clonal growth under different densities and light conditions; (4) light level affected the allocation of total biomass to clonal and sexual structures, with less allocation to clonal structures and more allocation to sexual structures in full sunlight than in shade; (5) light determined the onset of sexual reproduction, and the genets in the shade required a smaller threshold size for sexual reproduction to occur than the plants in full sunlight; and (6) no evidence was found of trade-offs between clonal growth and sexual reproduction under different densities and light conditions at the genet level, and the positive correlation between two reproductive modes indicated that these are two integrated processes. Clonal growth in this species may be viewed as a growth strategy that tends to maximize genet fitness.

The devil is in the detail: Nonadditive and context‐dependent plant population responses to increasing temperature and precipitation

“…This indicates that not precipitation per se but a related climatic factor might be the driving force behind the reduced clonality in our wetter transplants. For instance, transplants to more oceanic sites with higher rainfall would also experience an increase in cloudiness, and thus a decrease in light availability, which has been shown to reduce the production of clonal ramets (Guo et al., ; Méthy, Alpert, & Roy, ; Wang, Zhao, Du, & He, ; P. Wang, Lei, Li, & Yu, ; Xie, Zhang, Zhao, Du, & He, ). Our experimental setup allows us to address this effect independent of any change in temperature, which otherwise may have masked this response.…”

Does endophyte symbiosis resist allelopathic effects of an invasive plant in degraded grassland?

“…For example, weed species such as Pedicularis kansuensis, Ligularia virgaurea and Artemisia frigida have become extensively distributed over the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau during the last five decades (Lu et al, 2013;Ren et al, 2013;Sui et al, 2014;Xie et al, 2014). In this new environment, the invaders can utilize their full competitive potential, due to their natural enemies not being present (Callaway and Aschehoug, 2000), e.g.…”

Plant litter influences the temporal stability of plant community biomass in an alpine meadow by altering the stability and asynchrony of plant functional groups

“…The encroachment of unpalatable and poisonous plant species in alpine meadows on the QTP is considered to be a serious threat in terms of grassland degradation (Xie et al, 2014). A high proportion of poisonous plants in grassland plant communities will result in greater litter mass accumulation as animals avoid ingestion of these plants.…”