Elevated temperature may accelerate invasive expansion of the liana plant Ipomoea cairica

Abstract

Wang R‐L, Zeng R‐S, Peng S‐L, Chen B‐M, Liang X‐T & Xin X‐W (2011) Elevated temperature may accelerate invasive expansion of the liana plant Ipomoea cairica. Weed Research51, 574–580. Summary Numerous studies have shown that elevated CO2 levels promote liana establishment in forests, thus suggesting their increased prevalence in the future in these habitats. Limited information exists, however, concerning the effects of potentially increasing global temperatures on these plants. The invasive liana Ipomoea cairica has infested many forests in South China. We hypothesised that elevated temperature could change the resource allocation pattern and allelopathic potential of this plant, resulting in increased invasiveness. We compared seed germination, growth rates and leachate phytotoxicity of I. cairica at three temperatures (22, 26 and 30°C). The seed germination rates of I. cairica were 11.6%, 21.2% and 26.4% at 22, 26 and 30°C respectively. Elevated temperature resulted in significant changes in morphology and biomass allocation of I. cairica. Shoot biomass of the plant increased, while the root biomass decreased with increasing temperature. Phytotoxicity of aqueous leachates from fresh leaves of I. cairica varied depending on receptor plants, but showed the strongest phytotoxic effects at the highest temperature (30°C). Our results provide key information concerning the effects of elevated temperatures on the allelopathic potential, germination and growth of I. cairica and indicate that global warming could increase the invasiveness of this species.

Allelopathic effects of dominant ground vegetation species on initial growth of Pinus sylvestris L. seedlings in response to different temperature scenarios

“…. These results match with those observed in previous studies showing that increased temperature stimulates the production of higher allelochemical concentrations, which could have stronger effects on acceptor species (Wang et al 2011, Zhang et al 2014. However, our results indicated a different response of the root and shoot extracts of dominant species to seed germination at all temperatures compared with the data obtained in previous studies (Mahmoodzadeh et al 2015, Gulzar & Siddiqui 2014.…”

Climate warming alters competition between two highly invasive alien plant species and dominant native competitors

“…So far, the response of invasive alien plant species to climate warming has mainly been investigated with models (Thuiller et al ., ; Sheppard, ). The few studies that have tested responses to warming experimentally have usually done so for the invader itself (Wang et al ., ), or for invaders and their congeneric native counterparts separately (Verlinden & Nijs, ; He et al ., ). The impact of warming on interacting invaders and natives on the other hand, which is key to understanding impact on biodiversity, has to our knowledge only been investigated in two studies, one showing that warming would favour alien species (Chuine et al ., ) and one showing the opposite (Williams et al ., ).…”

Plant pathogens, insect pests and weeds in a changing global climate: a review of approaches, challenges, research gaps, key studies and concepts

“…However, in recently published original research articles (e.g. De Jesus Júnior et al 2008;Brenes-Arguedas et al 2009;Jaramillo et al 2011;Musolin et al 2011;Wang et al 2011) and reviews (see above), tropical conditions are increasingly considered, suggesting that researchers are aware of this research gap and have started to address it. Therefore, it can be assumed that in the near future even more information will be available on potential effects of climate change on pest distribution and prevalence under tropical conditions.…”