Multiple adaptations to light and nutrient heterogeneity in the clonal plant Leymus secalinus with a combined growth form

•Leymus secalinus produces both spreading and clumping ramets.•L. secalinus could not only alter length of spacer between spreading ramets, but also produce more clumping ramets, to place more ramets in resource-rich patches.•Spreading ramets had higher sensitivity to resources than clumping ramets in L. secalinus.

Essential resources for plant growth are always heterogeneously distributed in natural ecosystems. Clonal plants can selectively place ramets in resource-rich patches to efficiently use heterogeneously distributed resources by altering spacer performance. Leymus secalinus, with a combination of phalanx and guerilla growth forms, can produce both spreading and clumping ramets. Previous studies have shown that nutrient availability decreases the proportion of spreading ramets. It was hypothesized that L. secalinus could place more ramets in resource-rich patches by producing more clumping ramets. To test this hypothesis, L. secalinus was grown under artificial conditions with heterogeneously distributed nutrients and light. Results showed that L. secalinus not only altered the spacer length and specific spacer biomass between spreading ramets, but also balanced the trade-off between phalanx and guerilla growth forms to place more ramets in resource-rich patches, even if the patches were very small. Such multiple adaptations by L. secalinus, together with a division of labor, may enable it to efficiently use heterogeneous resources in natural ecosystems and to subsequently change the localized environment.