Natural selection favors root investment in native grasses during restoration of invaded fields

Ferguson, Scot D.; Leger, Elizabeth A.; Li, Jun; Nowak, Robert S.

doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2015.01.009

Cited by 22 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Developmental responses occur over longer time periods (e.g., years) and commonly involve the growth and development of organisms; they are typically not reversible within a single individual or lifetime. Examples of developmental responses to urban environments include changes in root investment in plants (Ferguson et al 2015) and changes in bill size and shape in birds (Badyaev et al 2008). All of these adaptive responses to urban environmental change can involve microevolutionary processes that through time may lead to changes in gene frequency (i.e., adaptive evolution) or they may simply reflect phenotypic and behavioral plasticity.…”

Section: Rate Of Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation and Adaptedness of Organisms to Urban Environments

McDonnell

Hahs

2015

Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst.

268

206

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Around the world the development and growth of cities and towns are having a significant impact on local and global biodiversity. There is growing interest in the adaptation of nonhuman organisms to urban environments, and we distinguish between the concepts of adaptation and adaptedness. Most of these studies have focused on animals, especially birds. Commonly recorded responses to urban environments include regulatory and acclimatory responses involving changes in behavior, communication, and physiology. Developmental responses tend to be morphological in nature but can also involve cultural learning. There is growing evidence of microevolutionary changes associated with adaptive responses to urban environments. This review also highlights the urgent need to refine the terminology currently used to describe the adaptation of organisms to urban environments in order to improve scientific understanding and more effectively identify and communicate the actions required to create biodiversity-and adaptation-friendly cities and towns for the future.

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Section: Rate Of Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation and Adaptedness of Organisms to Urban Environments

McDonnell

Hahs

2015

Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst.

268

206

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“…They found seedling emergence to be the major bottleneck in seedling recruitment of perennial grasses on semiarid rangelands. Ferguson et al () reported that seedlings of bottlebrush squirreltail ( Elymus elymoides [Raf.] Swezey) that established displayed greater root weight ratio (RWR; root biomass/total biomass) relative to seedlings that failed to establish.…”

Section: Functional Traits For Artificial Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The merits of artificial selection for the development of restoration‐ready plant materials of native perennial grasses

Chivers¹,

Jones

Broadhurst

et al. 2016

Restoration Ecology

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Although seed harvested from remnant, wildland perennial‐grass populations can be used for restoration in humid and subhumid temperate regions, seed harvested in semiarid and arid environments is often of low quality and highly variable in quantity. In addition, ongoing harvest of indigenous populations can be unsustainable, especially for those that are small. In such environments, dependable and repeatable broad‐scale restoration of degraded grasslands requires sufficient and consistent supplies of reliable, cost‐effective seed sources that can only result from intensively managed cultivated stands. But does the harvest of intensively managed seed‐production fields inadvertently compromise genetic diversity, thereby adversely affecting the restoration outcome? That is, are seed‐production systems a part of the solution for restoration, or do they create new unintended management issues? This article discusses the potential impacts of cultivated seed‐production systems and recurrent artificial selection for specific traits on genetic integrity and performance of native‐species perennial‐grass populations. Although genetic shift resulting from cultivated perennial‐grass seed production may be inevitable, genetic shifts that change phenological expression may be limited in genotypes that exhibit high seed retention. Artificial selection can improve plant material performance on the often‐harsh conditions of restoration sites, but sufficiently high‐effective population sizes (Ne) must be maintained to conserve genetic diversity, thereby precluding the inbreeding depression that can compromise plant performance. Potentially useful traits of native perennial‐grass species that respond to artificial selection include seed production, seed retention, seedling establishment, competitive ability against weeds, and herbicide tolerance. Potential trade‐offs between traits should also be considered to avoid undesirable inadvertent responses to selection.

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“…; James, Svejcar & Rinella ), and hence root allocation and morphology are important for seedling establishment (Maun ; Atwater, James & Leger ; Ferguson et al . ). The introduction of invasive species may make below‐ground resource limitation even more extreme, as they are often highly competitive for nutrients (Levine et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Plant fitness in arid systems is tied to the ability to access limiting below-ground resources such as water and nutrients (Casper & Jackson 1997;Donovan et al 2007;James, Svejcar & Rinella 2011), and hence root allocation and morphology are important for seedling establishment (Maun 1994;Atwater, James & Leger 2015;Ferguson et al 2015). The introduction of invasive species may make below-ground resource limitation even more extreme, as they are often highly competitive for nutrients (Levine et al 2003;Vila & Weiner 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasive Bromus tectorum alters natural selection in arid systems

Leger

Goergen

2017

Journal of Ecology

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Summary While much research has documented the impact of invaders on native communities and ecosystem services, there has been less work quantifying how invasion affects the genetic composition of native populations. That is, when invaders dominate a community, can they shift selection regimes and impact the evolutionary trajectory of native populations? The invasion of the annual grass Bromus tectorum in the Intermountain West provides an opportunity to quantify the effects of invasion on natural selection in wild populations. The shift from a perennial‐dominated native community to one dominated by a highly competitive annual species alters the timing and intensity of competitive pressure, which has the potential to strongly shift selection regimes for native plants. To quantify traits under selection in contrasting environments, we planted seeds of two native perennial grasses, Elymus multisetus and Poa secunda, into three invaded, invaded but weeded and relatively uninvaded sagebrush systems. We quantified phenotypic traits of seedlings from separate maternal plants, describing differences in phenotypes among individuals. We then asked which traits were associated with survival and plant size in adjacent invaded and uninvaded sagebrush systems, following individual seed performance for 3 years. We found evidence for divergent selection between invaded and uninvaded sagebrush systems, with contrasting phenotypic traits associated with greater survival or plant size in these different growing conditions at all three field sites. For example, at one field site, P. secunda families with higher root tip production were more likely to survive in invaded and weeded environments, but this was not the case in uninvaded environments. Similarly, for E. multisetus, root mass fraction, seed mass and allocation to coarse or fine roots affected survival and plant size, again with contrasting relationships across invaded, weeded or uninvaded environments. Synthesis. Impacts of invasive species extend beyond ecosystem and community composition changes and can affect the evolutionary trajectory of native populations. By quantifying natural selection in invaded landscapes, we identified phenotypic traits that are potentially adaptive in these invaded systems. Importantly, these traits differed from traits associated with success in uninvaded communities. This insight into adaptive, contemporary evolution in native species can guide restoration and conservation efforts.

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Natural selection favors root investment in native grasses during restoration of invaded fields

Cited by 22 publications

References 37 publications

Adaptation and Adaptedness of Organisms to Urban Environments

Adaptation and Adaptedness of Organisms to Urban Environments

The merits of artificial selection for the development of restoration‐ready plant materials of native perennial grasses

Invasive Bromus tectorum alters natural selection in arid systems

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