Non-native populations of an invasive tree outperform their native conspecifics
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Authors
Introduced plants often face new environmental conditions in their non-native ranges. To become invasive, they need to overcome several biotic and abiotic filters that may trigger adaptive changes in life-history traits, like postgermination processes. Such early life cycle traits may play a crucial role in the colonization and establishment success of invasive plants. As a previous study revealed that seeds of non-native populations of the woody Siberian elm, Ulmus pumila, germinated faster than those of native populations, we expected growth performance of seedlings to mirror this finding. Here, we conducted a common garden greenhouse experiment using different temperature and watering treatments to compare the biomass production of U. pumila seedlings derived from 7 native and 13 populations from two non-native ranges. Our results showed that under all treatments, non-native populations were characterized by higher biomass production and enhanced resource allocation to aboveground biomass compared to the native populations. The observed enhanced growth performance of non-native populations might be one of the contributing factors for the invasion success of U. pumila due to competitive advantages during the colonization of new sites.
Original language | English |
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Article number | plw071 |
Journal | AoB PLANTS |
Volume | 8 |
Number of pages | 11 |
ISSN | 2041-2851 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 13.10.2016 |
- Biomass, Genetic shift, Greenhouse, Post-germination traits, Shoot-root ratio, Ulmus pumila
- Biology
- Ecosystems Research