Clonal plants combine sexual and clonal reproduction, which contribute differently to plant fitness. We investigated the consequence of natural selection on the two reproductive modes and the ecological factors that affect the reproductive modes of Eremosparton songoricum (Litv.) Vass. in order to understand the reproductive strategies of a clonal plant and the relationship between sexual and clonal reproduction. Morphological characteristics and biomass allocation patterns were m easured and compared at the clonal fragment level in two natural populations (riverside population A and hinterland population B) in the Gurbantunggut Desert, China. The flowering plant ratio, inflorescence number per plant, flower number per raceme, fruit number, mass of 100 seeds, root biomass, fruit biomass and ramet height were significantly higher, whereas fruit set, ramet density, rhizome biomass and length, and root number were significantly lower, in population A compared with those in population B. We estimated that the importance of clonal reproduction varies in two populations of E. songoricum, and the investment adjustment in the two reproductive modes may be based on cost required for each new plant to generate the more survival progeny in the plant life time.
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