Heterogeneous distribution of soil nutrients increase intra-specific competition in the clonal plant Glechoma hederacea

• Published in: Plant ecology Vol. 215; no. 8; pp. 863 - 873
• Main Authors: Roiloa, Sergio R., Sánchez-Rodríguez, Paula, Retuerto, Rubén
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-08-2014; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied Ecology; Biodiversity; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chlorophyll; Community & Population Ecology; Competition; Ecology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Glechoma hederacea; Heterogeneity; Life Sciences; Plant Ecology; Plant growth; Plant populations; Soil fertility; Soil nutrients; Terrestial Ecology; Chlorophyll fluorescence; Environmental heterogeneity; Clonal growth; Intra-specific competition; Spectral reflectance; Relative interaction index; Chlorophyll; Plant ecology; Fluorescence; Inorganic element; Non uniform distribution; Medicinal plant; Spectral data; Heterogeneity; Soils; Labiatae; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Intraspecific competition; Environment; Glechoma hederacea; Spermatophyta; Clone; Reflectance
• ISSN: 1385-0237; 1573-5052
• DOI: 10.1007/s11258-014-0338-7

Small-scale heterogeneity strongly affects plant fitness and many ecological processes, and it can significantly influence the growth of individual plants, populations and communities. Generally, clonal species achieve significantly more growth when essential resources are patchily distributed than when resources are uniformly distributed. In this study, we aim to determine the effect of spatial heterogeneity in soil resources on intraspecific competition in the clonal plant
Glechoma hederacea
. We report the outcomes of a greenhouse experiment where high and low densities of plants were exposed to patchy and uniform distribution of nutrients. Our results showed that patchy distribution of resources exacerbated intra-specific competition between clonal systems. We found a reduction of total mass of clonal systems growing at high-density, especially under patchy conditions. Patchy distribution of resources conduct to high concentration of resources located in small areas, and as consequence increase the competition interaction between plants. This study demonstrates that full understanding of plant–plant competitive interactions requires consideration of spatial heterogeneity in nutrient supply.