[Clonal architecture and ramet population characteristics of Lysimachia congestiflora growing under different light...

The response of clonal architecture and ramet population characteristics to resource heterogeneity is of great ecological significance. This paper studied the variations of clonal architecture and ramet population characteristics of stoloniferous herb Lysimachia congestiflora growing at the open land of forest edge, forest edge, and forest understory of evergreen broad-leaved forest in Mt. Lingyan of Dujiangyan, Sichuan Province, and compared the stolon internode length, frequency distribution of stolon internode length, braching intensity, branching angle, frequency distribution of branching angle, ramet population density, ramet population height, ramet population biomass, and root/shoot of ramet population among the three habitats. The results showed that the stolon internode length, branching intensity, ramet population density and ramet population biomass were different among three habitats. Kruskal Wallis test indicated that the distributions of stolon internode length and branching angle were significantly different among three habitats. The skewness in distribution of stolon internode length was in the order of open land of forest edge>forest edge>forest understory; and the branching angle, ramet population height, and root/shoot of ramet population were significant greater in open land of forest edge than in forest edge and forest understory. The skewness in distribution of branching angle in open land of forest edge was smaller than that in forest edge and forest understory. The branching angle, ramet population height, and root/shoot of ramet population were not significantly different between forest edge and forest understory. These results were discussed in the context of resource acquisition strategy by clonal plants.