Abstract
Plants with clonal growth can produce multiple potentially independent units, termed ramets. Clonal growth can have important ecological and evolutionary consequences, such as by increasing probability of reproduction, space monopolization, and regeneration after injury; and by permitting physiological integration of connected ramets.
Although clonal growth is widespread among species and habitats, it has received relatively little attention in plant ecology. To introduce this special issue on clonal plant ecology, we first provide a brief background on the topic, noting its importance in areas ranging from evolution to the impacts of climate change on plant communities.
We then focus on a set of pressing questions, to highlight both the obstacles and opportunities to more explicitly incorporate clonal growth in research on plant ecology and evolution.