Clonal integration benefits an invader in heterogeneous environments with reciprocal patchiness of resources, but not its native congener.

ABSTRACT: Many of the world's most invasive plants are clonal, and clonal functional traits are suggested to contribute to their invasiveness. Clonal integration is one of the most important clonal functional traits, but it is still unclear whether clonal integration can benefit invasive alien clonal plants more than native ones in heterogeneous environments with reciprocal patchiness of resources and whether invasive plants show a higher capacity of division of labor than native ones in such environments. We grew connected (allowing clonal integration) and disconnected (preventing clonal integration) ramet pairs of an invasive plant Wedelia trilobata and its occurring native congener W. chinensis in the environment consisting of reciprocal patches of light and soil nutrients (i.e., a

SUBMITTER: Zhang XM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9751628 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature