Most models of species coexistence focus on interactions among different species, but do not account for intraspecific variation. It is estimated that approximately 50% of the variation observed in nature, occurs within species. This enormous source of variability and its potential impact on biodiversity have been rarely studied in plant communities.

A widely accepted idea in animal ecology is that altruistic behaviour between closely related individuals of the same species (i.e. kin facilitation) may increase group fitness. However, this idea has rarely been incorporated in plant evolutionary ecology.

In this project we use an annual legume Medicago truncatula, to test whether the behaviour (competition vs. cooperation) of individual plants changes depending on the identity of their neighbour (kin vs. stranger) along a gradient of genetic relatedness.