Sediment availability provokes a shift from Brownian to Levy-like clonal expansion in a dune building grass.

ABSTRACT: In biogeomorphic landscapes, plant traits can steer landscape development through plant-mediated feedback interactions. Interspecific differences in clonal expansion strategy can therefore lead to the emergence of different landscape organisations. Yet, whether landscape-forming plants adopt different clonal expansion strategies depending on their physical environment remains to be tested. Here, we use a field survey and a complementary mesocosm approach to investigate whether sediment deposition affects the clonal expansion strategy employed by dune-building marram grass individuals. Our results reveal a consistent shift in expansion pattern from more clumped, Brownian-like, movement in sediment-poor conditions, to patchier, Lévy-like, movement under high sediment supply rates. Additional

SUBMITTER: Reijers VC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7839770 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature