Niche shifts and seed limitation as mechanisms determining seedling recruitment in clonal plants.

This is a review of the evidence on seedling recruitment patterns in clonal forest plants, based on a previously used typology in which the occurrence of seedling recruitment is related to the performance of adult genets: repeated seedling recruitment (RSR), initial seedling recruitment (ISR), recruitment at windows of opportunity (RWO) and systematic spatial variation in seedling dynamics among local populations (RSR/ISR). Generally, seedling recruitment in clonal populations is common and the majority of species have the capacity to recruit within established adult populations. All four recruitment patterns are documented in studies, which include both genetic and demographic evidence that support the existence of a range of variation in seedling recruitment among clonal plants. However, it is suggested that this four-category typology should be replaced by a framework based on two continuously varying factors: the degree of niche overlap between juvenile and adult life cycle stages (uncoupling of juvenile and adult niches implies “niche shifts”) and of seed limitation during recruitment. This creates a hypothetical continuous space within which all recruitment patterns are placed and stimulates research to focus on identifying mechanisms determining the variation in the recruitment of clonal plants. Some further implications of this framework are briefly discussed.