Fitness of resprouters versus seeders in relation to nutrient availability in two Plantago species

Two contrasting strategies of plants from disturbed areas are reported to depend on nutrient availability. Resprouters, investing into storage and capable of vegetative regeneration after disturbance, are predicted to be enhanced in nutrient poor environments. This contrasts to seeders, which invest preferentially into seed production and regenerating only from seeds, and are thought to prevail in nutrient rich environments. To test such predicted dichotomy, we set up an experiment with two facultative resprouters with contrasting nutrient demands and assessed the fitness of individuals regenerated from seeds and root fragments in differently productive environments. We hypothesized that 1) plants with higher nutrient demands have a higher fitness as seeders irrespectable of nutrient availability and/or 2) both species will have a higher fitness as resprouters under lower nutrient availability and as seeders when nutrient availability is higher. Nutrient availability was also manipulated prior to and after disturbance to evaluate the impact of changing nutrient availability on the strategy of resprouting. The results of our pot experiment with Plantago lanceolata and Plantago media supported the first but not the second hypothesis. Moreover, high nutrient availability prior to disturbance negatively affected resprouting success, but the growth and fitness of successfully regenerated individuals were enhanced under higher nutrient availability. We concluded that resprouting from roots after disturbance is affected by nutrient availability, but this effect considerably differs between individual life-history stages.