What are the consequences of clonal integration for floral traits and reproductive investment of a broadly distributed aquatic plant?

Abstract

Reproductive plasticity allows plants to invest resources in distinct ways under different environmental conditions. Clonal reproduction has been considered a sink of resources that decreases sexual reproduction due to potential trade-offs between reproductive modes. However, clonal integration may allow plants to share resources such as water and nutrients among individual subunits, generating variability on key traits, as floral shape, and size. The objective of this work was to examine whether clonal integration affects floral traits on a widely distributed aquatic plant, and how this influence affect plants sexual reproductive traits. We found that clonal ramets exhibited larger and more robust flowers than isolated ones, but the number of flowers per inflorescence did not change in comparison to isolated plants. These changes are discussed as mechanisms of reproduction enhancement. We conclude that clonal integration changes Eichhornia crassipes resources investment on sexual reproduction and may be identified as a persistence strategy for aquatic plants.