Differences in Competitive Ability between Plants from Nonnative and Native Populations of a Tropical Invader Relates to Adaptive Responses in Abiotic and Biotic Environments

Liao, Zhi-Yong; Zhang, Ru; Barclay, Gregor F.; Feng, Yu‐Long

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0071767

Cited by 21 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…, Liao et al. ). Increased growth rates at range edges have also been found due to natural range expansion and poleward migration of species (Evans et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With ranges shifting due to natural and anthropogenic causes, there are multiple ways selection can occur. Many studies have shown the evolution of increased growth rate of invaders in invaded habitats (Matlaga et al 2012, Liao et al 2013). Increased growth rates at range edges have also been found due to natural range expansion and poleward migration of species (Evans et al 2013, Schwarzer et al 2013.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecosystem consequences of plant genetic divergence with colonization of new habitat

et al. 2017

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Abstract. When plants colonize new habitats altered by natural or anthropogenic disturbances, those individuals may encounter biotic and abiotic conditions novel to the species, which can cause plant functional trait divergence. Over time, site-driven adaptation can give rise to population-level genetic variation, with consequences for plant community dynamics and ecosystem processes. We used a series of 3000-yr-old, lava-created forest fragments on the Island of Hawai`i to examine whether disturbance and subsequent colonization can lead to genetically differentiated populations, and where differentiation occurs, if there are ecosystem consequences of trait-driven changes. These fragments are dominated by a single tree species, Metrosideros polymorpha (Myrtaceae) or ʻ ohiʻa, which have been actively colonizing the surrounding lava flow created in 1858. To test our ideas about differentiation of genetically determined traits, we (1) created rooted cuttings of ʻ ohiʻa individuals sampled from fragment interiors and open lava sites, raised these individuals in a greenhouse, and then used these cuttings to create a common garden where plant growth was monitored for three years; and (2) assessed genetic variation and made Q ST /F ST comparisons using microsatellite repeat markers. Results from the greenhouse showed quantitative trait divergence in plant height and pubescence across plants sampled from fragment interior and matrix sites. Results from the subsequent common garden study confirmed that the matrix environment can select for individuals with 9.1% less shoot production and 17.3% higher leaf pubescence. We found no difference in molecular genetic variation indicating gene flow among the populations. The strongest Q ST level was greater than the F ST estimate, indicating sympatric genetic divergence in growth traits. Tree height was correlated with ecosystem properties such as soil carbon and nitrogen storage, soil carbon turnover rates, and soil phosphatase activity, indicating that selection for growth traits will influence structure, function, and dynamics of developing ecosystems. These data show that divergence can occur on centennial timescales of early colonization.

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“…, Liao et al. ). Increased growth rates at range edges have also been found due to natural range expansion and poleward migration of species (Evans et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem consequences of plant genetic divergence with colonization of new habitat

et al. 2017

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“…Instead of assuming PLA had no effect in these studies, its effect was treated as ‘not applicable’ in our dataset, which will not influence the overall effect of PLA for all cases. Likewise, seven studies considered the responses to environmental gradients without distinguishing the differences among genotypes from the introduced range, so the effects of LOC were also treated as “not applicable” (Sultan , Bossdorf et al , Wang et al , Flory et al , Lamarque et al , Liao et al , Travlos ). As to the other twelve studies that compared the genotypic differences among multiple genotypes under one environmental condition, the effects of PLA were also treated as ‘not applicable’.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How much do phenotypic plasticity and local genetic variation contribute to phenotypic divergences along environmental gradients in widespread invasive plants? A meta‐analysis

Liao

D’Antonio

Chen

et al. 2016

Oikos

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For introduced species that have spread across a wide distributional range, phenotypic plasticity (PLA) has often been proposed as an important contributor to invasion success, because it increases the survival rate during initial colonization. In contrast, local genetic variation (LOC) has also been proposed to be important, because it could allow invaders to evolve high performance in a new habitat. While evolutionary ecologists have long been interested in understanding genetic mechanisms that allow rapid colonization and spread of species, until recently experimental tests of these concepts have been limited. As a step towards generalization in our understanding of the importance of PLA and LOC, we review the current state of the literature on this topic using meta-analysis. Here, we focused on three fundamental questions: 1) which strategy, PLA or LOC, better explains the phenotypic divergences during invader range expansion across different environmental gradients? 2) Which species characteristics correlate with the occurrence of these different phenomena? And 3) does the detection of PLA versus LOC depend on the trait studied? Using meta-analysis we found that plasticity explained a higher proportion of phenotypic variation regardless of the environmental gradients studied or plant growth forms. PLA predominated in clonal, self-compatible and perennial species, while LOC predominated in annual species. The patterns were trait-dependent: LOC was significantly more important than PLA in phenology, while opposite patterns were found in fecundity and biomass allocation. The frequent simultaneous detection of PLA and genotypic variation in PLA among invasive populations suggested that PLA might benefit from LOC to some extent. Our results also indicate that the contribution of plasticity to the competitive advantages of invasive plants may be more informative than the level of plasticity itself.

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“…A few EICA studies have performed studies of intraspecific competition (Felker‐Quinn, Schweitzer, & Bailey, ; Feng et al, , ; Parker et al, ; Qin et al, ), which is important because intraspecific competition eliminates the potential confounding effects of using a heterospecific as a “phytometer.” Pots contained a mixture of 60% forest topsoil and 40% river sand. Topsoil was used as a natural supply of macro‐ and micronutrients, while river sand provided adequate drainage and facilitated the harvesting of fine roots (Liao, Zhang, Barclay, & Feng, ). All seedlings were initially grown in shade with 50% irradiance for 4 weeks to facilitate initial survival; after this period, they were grown in full sun.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postintroduction evolution contributes to the successful invasion of Chromolaena odorata

Zheng

Likun

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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The evolution of increased competitive ability (EICA) hypothesis states that, when introduced in a novel habitat, invasive species may reallocate resources from costly quantitative defense mechanisms against enemies to dispersal and reproduction; meanwhile, the refinement of EICA suggests that concentrations of toxins used for qualitative defense against generalist herbivores may increase. Previous studies considered that only few genotypes were introduced to the new range, whereas most studies to test the EICA (or the refinement of EICA) hypotheses did not consider founder effects. In this study, genetic and phenotypic data of Chromolaena odorata populations sampled across native and introduced ranges were combined to investigate the role of postintroduction evolution in the successful invasion of C. odorata. Compared with native populations, the introduced populations exhibited lower levels of genetic diversity. Moreover, different founder effects events were interpreted as the main cause of the genetic structure observed in introduced ranges. Three Florida, two Trinidad, and two Puerto Rico populations may have been the sources of the invasive C. odorata in Asia. When in free of competition conditions, C. odorata plants from introduced ranges perform better than those from native ranges at high nutrient supply but not at low nutrient level. The differences in performance due to competition were significantly greater for C. odorata plants from the native range than those from the introduced range at both nutrient levels. Moreover, the differences in performance by competition were significantly greater for putative source populations than for invasive populations. Quantities of three types of secondary compounds in leaves of invasive C. odorata populations were significantly higher than those in putative source populations. These results provide more accurate evidence that the competitive ability of the introduced C. odorata is increased with postintroduction evolution.

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Differences in Competitive Ability between Plants from Nonnative and Native Populations of a Tropical Invader Relates to Adaptive Responses in Abiotic and Biotic Environments

Cited by 21 publications

References 45 publications

Ecosystem consequences of plant genetic divergence with colonization of new habitat

Ecosystem consequences of plant genetic divergence with colonization of new habitat

How much do phenotypic plasticity and local genetic variation contribute to phenotypic divergences along environmental gradients in widespread invasive plants? A meta‐analysis

Postintroduction evolution contributes to the successful invasion of Chromolaena odorata

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