CLONAL PLANTS - WHAT IS THEIR ROLE IN SUCCESSION

Fifteen successional seres from man-made habitats in central Europe we re compared and the occurrence of clonal species assessed on the basis of cover data. The effects of soil moisture and nitrogen (expressed u sing Ellenberg indicator values) on the performance of clonal plants w ere also considered. Clonal species formed the dominant component of v egetation cover in the majority of the seres studied. In moist sites, their dominance was more pronounced and the peak in their relative cov er occurred earlier in succession. The relative importance of species with guerilla type growth tended to increase with time in most seres a nd after 10 years these were mostly more important than those exhibiti ng phalanx type growth. The prevalence of guerilla species after 10 ye ars was more obvious in moist seres. Clonal species were able to becom e dominant regardless of soil conditions, whereas the dominance of non -clonal species tended to be restricted to very wet and nutrient-poor sites. Clonal plant species appeared to maintain their dominance far a longer period than non-clonal plants.