Vol: 38 Page: 185

Authors:
Anna Jakubska
Małgorzata Dudkiewicz
Paweł Jankowski
Radosław Sikora

Title:
 A mathematical method to estimate the underground development of the clonal species

Language: English

Keywords:
Minimal Spanning Tree
Epipactis helleborine (L.) Crantz
plant population dynamics

Summary:
One of the most serious problems for field researchers investigating clonal species is to distinguish separate plants (genets) of which the population is made up. In the case of many endangered species the difficulty is connected with the restrictions imposed by their protected status. We present an application of the graph theory Minimal Spanning Tree model combined with the variance analysis formulae for estimation of the underground development of the rhizome which as we believe, can be used for many clonal species. We analyse a practical application of the method for an exemplary Epipactis helleborine (L.) Crantz population. Hypothetical structure of its underground rhizome connections is pictured showing the growth scheme of the population.

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