title: Biomass Allocation of Stoloniferous and Rhizomatous Plant in Response to Resource Availability: A Phylogenetic Meta-Analysis.
abstract: Resource allocation to different functions is central in life-history theory. Plasticity of functional traits allows clonal plants to regulate their resource allocation to meet changing environments. In this study, biomass allocation traits of clonal plants were categorized into absolute biomass for vegetative growth vs. for reproduction, and their relative ratios based on a data set including 115 species and derived from 139 published literatures. We examined general pattern of biomass allocation of clonal plants in response to availabilities of resource (e.g., light, nutrients, and water) using phylogenetic meta-analysis. We also tested whether the pattern differed among clonal organ types (stolon vs. rhizome). Overall, we found that stoloniferous plants were more sensitive to light intensity than rhizomatous plants, preferentially allocating biomass to vegetative growth, aboveground part and clonal reproduction under shaded conditions. Under nutrient- and water-poor condition, rhizomatous plants were constrained more by ontogeny than by resource availability, preferentially allocating biomass to belowground part. Biomass allocation between belowground and aboveground part of clonal plants generally supported the optimal allocation theory. No general pattern of trade-off was found between growth and reproduction, and neither between sexual and clonal reproduction. Using phylogenetic meta-analysis can avoid possible confounding effects of phylogeny on the results. Our results shown the optimal allocation theory explained a general trend, which the clonal plants are able to plastically regulate their biomass allocation, to cope with changing resource availability, at least in stoloniferous and rhizomatous plants.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Hangzhou City for Ecosystem Protection and Restoration, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal UniversityHangzhou, China; National Science Library, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China; State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiu-Fang
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Hangzhou City for Ecosystem Protection and Restoration, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal UniversityHangzhou, China; State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Kun
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Hangzhou City for Ecosystem Protection and Restoration, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal UniversityHangzhou, China; State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Feng-Hong
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Hangzhou City for Ecosystem Protection and Restoration, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yao-Bin
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Hangzhou City for Ecosystem Protection and Restoration, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dong
keywords: biomass allocation; clonal reproduction; ontogenetic drift; optimal allocation theory; phylogenetic meta-analysis; sexual reproduction; trade-off; vegetative growth