Niche differentiation between two rhizomatous plant species: Typha latifolia and Typha angustifolia

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Morphological characteristics and biomass allocation were examined for two species of Typha in a small pond. Typha latifolia differed from T. angustifolia in having shorter leaf height, wider leaves, greater leaf surface area, greater allocation to leaves, greater number of smaller rhizomes, greater allocation to vegetative reproduction, smaller allocation to sexual reproduction, and fewer number of flowering plants. For both species, those plants growing in deeper water had taller leaves, a greater allocation to leaves, and a decreased allocation to sexual and vegetative reproduction. Previous studies of these populations have demonstrated that these two species are segregated according to water depth with T. latifolia being competitively superior in shallow water (less than 15 cm) but T. angustifolia having the potential to grow in deeper water than T. latifolia. Results from this study indicate that T. latifolia is competitively superior in shallow water because of its greater leaf surface area but that T. angustifolia's tall, narrow leaves and large rhizome storage permit it to grow in deeper water than T. latifolia. The greater amount of sexual reproduction in T. angustifolia is correlated with its more restricted distribution and fugitive nature.