Demetrio Guilherme Ramos, Seixas Luziene, Coelho Flávia de Freitas
Plant Ecology Lab, Penedo Educational Unit, Campus Arapiraca, Federal University of Alagoas, Av. Beira Rio, s/n, Centro Histórico, Penedo 57200-000, AL, Brazil.
Graduate Program in Ecology (PPG-Ecology), State University of Campinas, Campinas 13083-862, SP, Brazil.
Biology (Basel). 2025 Jan 23;14(2):114. doi: 10.3390/biology14020114.
Intra-individual variation in floral traits is linked to plant fitness, playing a central role in sexual selection. This variation can arise from architectural constraints, such as flower position on the inflorescence axis, and from environmental factors. In relation to the environmental influences on floral traits, the most common causes of variation are linked to the presence of pollinators, to plant resource acquisition strategies and to the availability of local resource pools. We investigated how clonal integration and resource depletion through defoliation affect floral trait stability in , testing whether clonal integration buffer floral traits against resource limitations. Using greenhouse experiments, we manipulated clonal structure and resource availability. We assessed the effects of floral position and clonal integration on floral traits through model selection. Our results showed that basal flowers generally had larger traits, more attractive to pollinators, and isolated or defoliated ramets exhibited significant reductions in floral traits, especially at distal flowers. Clonal integration stabilized floral traits across positions by mitigating the effects of resource variability. Clonal integration in enhances resilience to resource depletion, likely contributing to this species invasiveness. These findings highlight the significance of clonal and architectural integration in sustaining reproductive traits under environmental stress.
花部性状的个体内变异与植物适合度相关，在性选择中起核心作用。这种变异可能源于结构限制，如花朵在花序轴上的位置，也可能源于环境因素。关于环境对花部性状的影响，最常见的变异原因与传粉者的存在、植物资源获取策略以及当地资源库的可用性有关。我们研究了克隆整合和通过去叶造成的资源消耗如何影响[物种名称未给出]的花部性状稳定性，测试克隆整合是否能缓冲花部性状免受资源限制的影响。通过温室实验，我们操纵了克隆结构和资源可用性。我们通过模型选择评估了花的位置和克隆整合对花部性状的影响。我们的结果表明，基部花通常具有更大的性状，对传粉者更具吸引力，而隔离或去叶的分株花部性状显著降低，尤其是远端花。克隆整合通过减轻资源变异性的影响稳定了不同位置的花部性状。[物种名称未给出]中的克隆整合增强了对资源消耗的恢复力，这可能促成了该物种的入侵性。这些发现突出了克隆和结构整合在环境压力下维持繁殖性状的重要性。
