Mobility and Space Capture in the Stoloniferous Plant Potentilla Anserina

The relation between ramet distribution and space availability was studied during three years in a sea shore meadow population of Potentilla anserina L. Ramets were found to be disproportionally distributed in favour of microareas with low surrounding vegetation density. The same pattern occurred in an experimentally arranged vegetation mosaic. The mechanism for this distribution was not found. Hypotheses based on differential mortality, internode length variation and apex directed transport of resource surplus in the stolons, failed to explain the pattern. The mobility of P. anserina is in effect a mechanism of escape from superior comptitors in the surroundings, thus increasing the probability of persistence of P. anserina in the community.