Clonal growth modes in plant communities along a stress gradient in the Central Apennines, Italy.

A simplification from species to functional groups using the concept of clonality is particularly attractive for predictive modelling of vegetation processes and preparing guidelines for nature conservation. This important functional trait based on a modular structure including resource-acquiring units (ramets, feeding sites) and spacers, has been studied in three plant communities (xeric grassland, mesic grassland, and beech forest) under different levels of environmental stress (related to soil moisture and fertility) in the Montagna di Torricchio Nature Reserve near Camerino, Central Apennines, Italy. The study sought to reveal patterns of clonal growth modes (CGMs) in the three plant community types, and to test a series of hypotheses on the importance of selected CGMs along the stress gradient. Clonality was shown to have different importance in the grassland communities, due to differences in the importance of various CGMs (representing syndromes of clonal traits). Below-ground positioning of CGOs, shorter spacers, higher multiplication potential, permanent physical connection between ramets, large bud bank, and increased importance of bud protection were frequently found in water-stressed xeric grasslands, suggesting the adaptive value of these clonal traits. The major differences between grassland communities were due to the dominant CGMs: turf graminoids (with an effective way of protecting growth meristems in dense tussocks) dominated xeric grasslands, whereas rhizomatous graminoids (typical of competitive resource-rich habitats) dominated mesic grasslands. The beech forest had fewer clonal species (67%) and lower CGM diversity. Based on the assumption that different environments promote different selection pressures, the tests revealed the following results: (1) Plants with clonal organs below ground have significantly higher cover values in stressed habitats. (2) Species with short spacers are more frequent in less favourable environments, and their importance is almost ten times higher in the xeric grassland than in the forest (71% to 7.6%). (3) The number of species able to produce numerous ramets is highest in the most stressed habitat. (4) The number of species with a potential for longlasting connection between ramets increases towards stressed environments. In contrast to our expectations, the mesic grasslands (occupying the central position along the studied stress gradient) have the highest number of species with storage organs. (6) In stressed habitats, species with forms of bud protection were the most frequent.