Response of Trifolium repens to a mosaic of bare and vegetated patches

In herbaceous vegetation, plants are subjected to a spatial heterogeneous distribution of light. Trifolium repens was tested on its ability to avoid vegetated patches by change of stolon growth direction, reduced branching or reduced growth. Treatments consisted of a no grass control, grass on the west side and grass on the north side. When Trifolium was growing beside a grass patch on the west side, plants reduced branching but did not change direction nor was there reduced growth in stolons that were growing towards/in the vegetated patch compared to the control plants. When the grass patch was situated to the north of the plant, plants did not show reduced branching except of the primary stolon, nor was there change of growth direction or reduced growth. The biomass and number of ramets were reduced in the vegetated patch of the west treatment and the patch adjacent to the grass patch. In the north treatment biomass and number of ramets were only reduced in the vegetated patch. Compared to the control, total plant biomass was reduced in the west‐grass‐patch treatment but not in the north‐grass‐patch treatment. Reduced branching near grass patches could be an added mechanism by which to avoid vegetated patches; it is not very effective, however, because biomass production did not increase in the open patches but was only reduced in the vegetated patches.