Reproductive strategies and growth patterns in four legumes
- 15 February 1978
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Canadian Science Publishing in Canadian Journal of Botany
- Vol. 56 (4) , 413-416
- https://doi.org/10.1139/b78-052
Abstract
The partitioning of dry matter into component plant parts has been traced for four legumes. The four species were chosen to represent different positions along the r-K continuum. Three of the species, Medicago lupulina, M. sativa, and Trifolium pratense, behaved essentially as predicted by r- and K-selection theory. However, the stolons of T. repens are formed within 7 weeks of germination and thus permit this species to reproduce sooner than Medicago lupulina can reproduce by seed. In this way, T. repens can behave as an r strategist in an environment imposing density-dependent regulation (a ‘K' type environment).This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- A GENERAL THEORY OF CLUTCH SIZEEvolution, 1966
- SOME GENERALIZED THEOREMS OF NATURAL SELECTIONProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1962