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The spatial pattern in a natural population of goldenrod ( Solidago altissima L.), with particular reference to its change during the shoot growth
Author(s) -
Kitamoto Toshio
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
population ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1438-390X
pISSN - 1438-3896
DOI - 10.1007/bf02511189
Subject(s) - biology , shoot , competition (biology) , spatial distribution , common spatial pattern , botany , spatial ecology , population , ecology , mathematics , statistics , demography , sociology
Summary In a natural population of Solidago altissima L., the changes in the spatial pattern of shoots in the course of growth were studied. The results obtained were summarized as follows: The spatial pattern changed from clumped to random distribution as plants grew. The change seemed to be resulted from some density‐dependent process acting at a small spatial scale, probably the competition for space. Large plants tended to distribute themselves more uniformly over the space than the small ones but at the mature stage of growth such a difference was not obviously recognized. The process of appearance of the small‐sized plants during successive periods also seemed to be dependent on local density. Large plants at the early stage of growth tended to survive better, and there was a positive correlation between initial size and the size at maturity. From these results, it is inferred that the change of spatial pattern from clumped to random distribution is largely due to the elimination of small shoots as the result of competition for space among individual shoots.