FUNCTIONAL FEATURES AND ONTOGENIC CHANGES IN REPRODUCTIVE ALLOCATION AND PARTITIONING STRATEGIES OF PLANT MODULES

In the concept of modularity, plant modules are considered as iterativ e units and their changes are analyzed in terms of number or size. Thi s paper, however, analyses changes with respect to the reproductive fu nctional performance of modules and individual plant age. Patterns of resource allocation and partitioning in reproductive modules (fruits) are compared between two different age groups of a bushy perennial pla nt, Cistus ladanifer. Although modules do not differ in their allocati on strategies (young plant modules produce the same seed and packing/p rotective structure biomass as old plant modules), their partitioning strategies change with plant age: young plant modules produce a larger number of lighter seeds than old plants. These differences have a dir ect consequence on the plant pre-dispersal fitness, which is not count eracted by insect predation on reproductive modules. These results are empirical evidence of a differentiation in the performance of reprodu ctive modules with the ontogenetic development of this plant species. We think that the consideration of such kind of changes in module feat ures is essential in the analysis of the iterative construction of pla nts.