Equivalence of competitor effects and tradeoff between vegetative multiplication and generative reproduction: case study with Lychnis flos-cuculi and Myosotis nemorosa

Author： Chaloupecká Eva Lepš Jan

Publisher： Urban & Fischer

ISSN： 0367-2530

Source： Flora, Vol.199, Iss.2, 2004-03, pp. : 157-167

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Abstract

Effects of graminoid competition and gap size on clonal growth and reproduction of two meadow species, Lychnis flos-cuculi and Myosotis nemorosa, were studied in an oligotrophic wet meadow and in a pot experiment. In the field experiment, plant height, lateral spread, number of leaves and flowers, and clonal growth characteristics (number of secondary rosettes or shoots produced) were repeatedly measured over three seasons. In the field experiment, young plants of investigated species were transplanted into tussocks of three graminoids: Molinia caerulea, Juncus effusus and Nardus stricta; and into small and large gaps. The effect of all competitive tussock graminoids on the growth of both target species was negative, but not equivalent, and differed between Lychnis flos-cuculi and Myosotis nemorosa. The species responded to graminoid competition also by changing their geometry and phenology. The positive effect of gaps on both species’ clonal growth increased with gap size. Investments into generative and vegetative reproduction were negatively correlated among treatments in Lychnis flos-cuculi and positively correlated in Myosotis nemorosa. In the greenhouse experiment seedlings of Lychnis flos-cuculi and Myosotis nemorosa were transplanted into pots with different amounts and spatial patterns of the competitive grass Holcus lanatus. Total density but not spatial arrangement of Holcus lanatus seedlings had the main competitive effect on the growth of Lychnis flos-cuculi and Myosotis nemorosa. Vegetative growth of both species was negatively correlated with increasing competitor’s density.