Fig. 2.

Summary of the optimal patch use behavior of plants according to the hypotheses generated by marginal value thereom. (A) Mean raw distance traveled by plant roots through the soil across all treatments without accounting for shoot size, after 36 days of growth. The location of the first patch is denoted by dashed horizontal lines. (B) Mean distance traveled by roots standardized by plant size, all treatments after 36 days of growth. This accounts for differences in distance traveled by roots that are related only to plant size. (C) Mean soil exploration measured as biomass of roots inside the boundaries of the first patch only (toward) and the equivalent location on the opposite side of the plant (away) for each treatment. Letters above bars represent the differences in mean proliferation designated by the least square means post hoc comparison in SAS. Data are after 48 days of growth. (D) Mean total biomass of plants grown in each soil treatment after 48 days of growth. Changes in biomass reflect differences in nutrient uptake among plants. We did not directly measure plant fitness. Letters above the means indicate statistical differences detected by a Tukey's test. Error bars in all panels are 1 SE.