Relative importance of sexual and asexual reproduction for range expansion of Spartina alterniflora in different tidal zones on Chinese coast

- Sexual reproduction accelerates the range expansion of S. alterniflora in middle and high tidal zones.
- Seed dispersal distance and adult survival rate are the two most important for range expansion during most stages.
- Asexual reproduction is very important in high tidal zone and as important as adult survival rate in middle tidal zone.
- During early invasion, adult survival rate and asexual reproduction are the two most important.
- During early invasion, interactions among different parameters are strong.

In this paper, based on spatially explicit individual-based model and global sensitivity analysis, the relative importance of sexual and asexual reproduction for range expansion of Spartina alterniflora in different tidal zones during different invasion stages has been revealed. The results showed that: 1) sexual reproduction is thought to accelerate the range expansion in middle and high tidal zones; 2) seed dispersal and adult survival rate are the two most important for range expansion of S. alterniflora during most invasion stages in all tidal zones. However, in high tidal zone, the importance of seed dispersal distance is much less than in low and middle tidal zones, and that of sexual reproduction is also great, which cannot be ignored. In middle tidal zone, the importance of adult survival rate is less important than in high and low tidal zones, and is very close to asexual reproduction. Moreover, there are significant fluctuations among the importance of different parameters except seed dispersal distance, indicating strong interactions. 3) the importance of adult survival rate and asexual reproduction is much greater than seed dispersal distance during early invasion. Especially, their importance is much higher during early and middle invasion stages in high tidal zone. During early invasion stages, the interactions among different parameters are very strong. To enhance the invasion control efficiency, it is necessary to take different control measures according to different tidal zones and invasion stages.