Physiological integration of connected plants of the same clone, or ramets, often increases clonal fitness when ramets differ in resource supply. However, review of the literature found that no study has directly tested the hypothesis that integration can increase the ability of clones to compete against other species. To test this, we grew two-ramet clonal fragments of the stoloniferous, perennial herb Fragaria chiloensis in which none, one, or both of the ramets had neighbors of a naturally co-occurring, dominant grass, Bromus carinatus, and connections between ramets were either severed to prevent integration or left intact. We also grew four-ramet fragments in which all ramets had neighbors and connections were severed or intact. Severance decreased the final leaf mass and area of two-ramet fragments by 25% and their final total mass by 15% when just one ramet was grown with B. carinatus. Severance had no significant effect on the total mass of fragments when none or all of the ramets were grown with the grass. This provides the first direct evidence that physiological integration can increase the competitive ability of clonal plant species, though only when competition is spatially heterogeneous. Integration may thus enable plant clones to grow into plant communities and to compete within communities with fine-scale disturbance. However, integration may not increase the competitive ability of clonal plants within uniformly dense communities of taller species.

当分株资源供应不同时，同一克隆或分株的相连植物的生理整合通常会提高克隆适应性。然而，文献综述发现，没有研究直接检验假说整合可以增加克隆与其他物种竞争的能力这一假设。为了测试这一点，我们种植了多年生茎多年生草本草莓Fragaria chiloensis的两个分株无性系片段，其中没有一个分枝或一个或两个分枝都与天然共生的优势草Bromus carinatus相邻。，分枝之间的连接被切断以防止整合或保持完整。我们还生长了四个分株的片段，其中所有分株都有邻居，并且连接被切断或完好无损。当只用一个分枝杆菌与B. carinatus一起生长时，遣散费将两个分株片段的最终叶片质量和面积降低了25％，将其最终总质量降低了15％。。当没有或所有分株都与草一起生长时，遣散费对碎片的总质量没有显着影响。这提供了第一个直接的证据，即只有在竞争在空间上是异质的情况下，生理整合才能提高克隆植物物种的竞争能力。因此，整合可以使植物克隆生长到植物群落中，并在具有细微尺度干扰的群落中竞争。但是，整合可能不会提高高等物种均匀密集群落中克隆植物的竞争能力。