Invasive populations of Senecio pterophorus are neither more productive nor more plastic than the native populations
Colomer Ventura, Ferran
Castells, Eva, tut.
Martínez Vilalta, Jordi, 1975-, tut. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Facultat de Biociències

Date: 2013
Description: 39 p.
Abstract: Successful plant invaders may have specific morphological and physiological traits that promote invasion in a new habitat. The Evolution of Increased Competitive Ability (EICA) hypothesis predicts that plants released from natural enemies in the introduced habitats are more competitive and perform better than plants from the native populations. An increased phenotypic plasticity may also favour invasion because it allows plants to function under a wider range of environments. In this study we used Senecio pterophorus (Asteraceae) to test whether introduced plant populations are 1)more competitive and 2) more plastic compared with the native populations. We conducted a common garden experiment using plants from the native range (South Africa, Eastern Cape), an expanded range (South Africa, Western Cape) and two introduced ranges (Australia and Europe) under different conditions of water availability. Contrary to the EICA and the increased plasticity hypotheses, plants from the invasive and expanded populations grew less and responded less to watering than those from their native range. These results may be caused by a depleted competition as well as the presence of genetic bottlenecks in the newly invaded areas.
Grants: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CGL2008-02421/BOS
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CGL2011-29205
Rights: L'accés als continguts d'aquest document queda condicionat a l'acceptació de les condicions d'ús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons: Creative Commons
Language: Anglès
Series: Facultat de Biociències. Treballs de màster i postgrau. Màster en Ecologia Terrestre i Gestió de la Biodiversitat
Document: Treball de fi de postgrau
Subject: Plantes ; Adaptació



39 p, 3.5 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Health sciences and biosciences > Chemical Ecology and Toxicology Lab
Research literature > Dissertations > Biosciences. MT

 Record created 2015-07-13, last modified 2022-10-22



   Favorit i Compartir