Among-population variation in drought responses is consistent across life stages but not between native and non-native ranges

Understanding how widespread species adapt to variation in abiotic conditions across their ranges is fundamental to ecology. Insight may come from studying how among-population variation (APV) in the common garden corresponds with the environmental conditions of source populations. However, there are no such studies comparing native vs non-native populations across multiple life stages. We examined APV in the performance and functional traits of 59 Conyza canadensis populations, in response to drought, across large aridity gradients in the native (North America) and non-native (Eurasia) ranges in three experiments. Our treatment (dry vs wet) was applied at the recruitment, juvenile, and adult life stages. We found contrasting patterns of APV in drought responses between the two ranges. In the native range, plant performance was less reduced by drought in populations from xeric than mesic habitats, but such relationship was not apparent for non-native populations. These range-specific patterns were consistent across the life stages. The weak adaptive responses of non-native populations indicate that they can become highly abundant even without complete local adaptation to abiotic environments and suggest that long-established invaders may still be evolving to the abiotic environment. These findings may explain lag times in invasions and raise concern about future expansions.

Coming home: Back-introduced invasive genotypes might pose an underestimated risk in the species´ native range

Biological invasions are considered a significant challenge both from an ecological and economical perspective. Compared to the native range, environmental conditions in the invasive range often favor more competitive genotypes. Little attention, however, has so far been paid to the possibility that these invasive and competitive genotypes might also be back-introduced into a species’ native range, where they could trigger a problematic increase in abundance or expansion. The frequency with which this occurs in the species´ native range might be an underestimated aspect in nature conservation. We transplanted native and invasive individuals of the biennial model species Jacobaea vulgaris into field sites of naturally occurring populations within the species’ native range. The aim was to test whether back-introduced invasive origins show decreased performance, e.g., because of the reunion with specialized herbivores or plant-soil-feedbacks or whether they have the potential to trigger problematic population dynamics in the species’ native range. We ran an additional greenhouse experiment to specifically address soil-borne effects in the species’ native habitats. We found that invasive individuals generally outperformed the native transplants if compared in the field sites. By contrast, there were no origin-dependent differences in the greenhouse experiment. Our findings clearly indicate that testing for origin effects exclusively under controlled conditions might underestimate the potential of invasive genotypes to trigger invasion processes in habitats of the species’ native range. Although differences in performance mediated by soil-borne effects were not associated with plant origin, field site susceptibility to J. vulgaris colonization varied largely. Identifying the exact factors driving these differences, offers another focal point to minimize the risk of a detrimental increase in the abundance or expansion of this highly invasive species in its home range.

Acquisition and evolution of enhanced mutualism-an underappreciated mechanism for invasive success?

Soil biota can determine plant invasiveness, yet biogeographical comparisons of microbial community composition and function across ranges are rare. We compared interactions between Conyza canadensis, a global plant invader, and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in 17 plant populations in each native and non-native range spanning similar climate and soil fertility gradients. We then grew seedlings in the greenhouse inoculated with AM fungi from the native range. In the field, Conyza plants were larger, more fecund, and associated with a richer community of more closely related AM fungal taxa in the non-native range. Fungal taxa that were more abundant in the non-native range also correlated positively with plant biomass, whereas taxa that were more abundant in the native range appeared parasitic. These patterns persisted when populations from both ranges were grown together in a greenhouse; non-native populations cultured a richer and more diverse AM fungal community and selected AM fungi that appeared to be more mutualistic. Our results provide experimental support for evolution toward enhanced mutualism in non-native ranges. Such novel relationships and the rapid evolution of mutualisms may contribute to the disproportionate abundance and impact of some non-native plant species.

Manipulation of cytosine methylation does not remove latitudinal clines in two invasive goldenrod species in Central Europe

Invasive species frequently differentiate phenotypically in novel environments within a few generations, often even with limited genetic variation. For the invasive plants Solidago canadensis and S. gigantea, we tested whether such differentiation might have occurred through heritable epigenetic changes in cytosine methylation. In a 2-year common-garden experiment, we grew plants from seeds collected along a latitudinal gradient in their non-native Central European range to test for trait differentiation and whether differentiation disappeared when seeds were treated with the demethylation agent zebularine. Microsatellite markers revealed no population structure along the latitudinal gradient in S. canadensis, but three genetic clusters in S. gigantea. Solidago canadensis showed latitudinal clines in flowering phenology and growth. In S. gigantea, the number of clonal offspring decreased with latitude. Although zebularine had a significant effect on early growth, probably through effects on cytosine methylation, latitudinal clines remained (or even got stronger) in plants raised from seeds treated with zebularine. Thus, our experiment provides no evidence that epigenetic mechanisms by selective cytosine methylation contribute to the observed phenotypic differentiation in invasive goldenrods in Central Europe.