Resource dynamics within Arctic clonal plants

The clonal growth habit is widespread amongst nearly all plant life forms of the Arctic and Subarctic which includes the Abisko area where clonal plant species dominate all major vegetation types. They do not depend on sexual reproduction and seedling establishment for proliferation in these harsh environments, they can search for nutrients in nutrient-limited and highly heterogeneous habitats, can take up water and nutrients from many sites simultaneously and thus buffer against spatial and temporal fluctuations in availability. They efficiently utilise the once acquired resources through recycling both within individual ramets and between ramets. As a consequence, their populations are stable and this has a stabilising effect on the vegetation as a whole. However, as they conserve nutrients within the living biomass, harmful effects of pollutants can be magnified.