Explaining variability in the production of seed and allergenic pollen by invasive Ambrosia artemisiifolia across Europe

Lommen, S.T.E.; Hallmann, Caspar A.; Jongejans, Eelke; Chauvel, Bruno; Leitsch-Vitalos, Melinda; Aleksanyan, Alla; Tóth, Péter; Preda, Cristina; Šćepanović, Maja; Önen, Hüseyin; Tokarska-Guzik, B.; Anastasiu, Paulina; Dorner, Zita; Fenesi, Annamária; Karrer, Gerhard; Nagy, Katalin; Pinke, Gyula; Tiborcz, Viktor; Zagyvai, Gergely; Zalai, Mihály; Kazinczi, G.; Leskovšek, Robert; Stešević, Danijela; Fried, Guillaume; Kalatozishvili, Levani; Lemke, Andreas; Müller‐Schärer, Heinz

doi:10.1007/s10530-017-1640-9

Cited by 25 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(55 reference statements)

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“…Such evolutionary changes were recently found to be responsible, at least partially, for niche shifts in the introduced European range of ragweed 23,25 . Moreover, larger ragweed plants, as selected for in our warming treatment, have previously been found to have higher per-capita seed and pollen production 57 . Larger plants are thus expected to further increase the future spread and impact of ragweed under changing climatic conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…The experimental populations not only evolved at the level of DNA sequence, but also at the level of phenotype. Under warming conditions, plants became larger and they flowered later, which might indicate selection towards faster growth and larger biomass accumulation, a syndrome of more efficient resource use, resulting in increased reproductive output 57 . van Boheemen et al 25 recently examined divergence of life-history traits in relation to climate in native North American versus introduced European and Australian populations of ragweed, and found that climate change is likely to select for larger ragweed plants that flowered later, which is in line with our results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By the end of the experiment at day 90, only nine individuals had not flowered yet and were assigned as not applicable (NA) for flowering-time analyses. As ragweed plants tended to reach their maximum height and biomass at the time of flowering 66,67 , we instead used biomass at the time of harvesting as a fitness proxy, as biomass was found to be highly correlated with per-capita seed and pollen production in a field study across 39 sites in Europe 57 . At the final harvest, we counted the numbers of developing male inflorescences of each plant as a proxy for potential male reproductive output, and we measured soil moisture content (SMC) using a soil moisture sensor (Delta-T Devices, Cambridge, UK) in all pots to assess differences in water use of the plants.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High standing genetic variation in an invasive plant allows immediate evolutionary response to climate warming

Sun

Bossdorf

Grados

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Predicting plant distributions under climate change is constrained by our limited understanding of potential rapid adaptive evolution. In an experimental evolution study with the invasive common ragweed, we subjected replicated populations of the same initial genetic composition to simulated climate warming. Pooled DNA sequencing of parental and offspring populations showed that warming populations experienced a greater loss of genetic diversity, and greater genetic divergence from their parents, than control populations. In a common environment, offspring from warming populations showed more convergent phenotypes in seven out of nine plant traits, with later flowering and larger biomass, than plants from control populations. For both traits, we also found a significant higher ratio of phenotypic to genetic differentiation across generations for warming than for control populations, indicating stronger selection under warming conditions. Our findings demonstrate that ragweed populations can rapidly evolve in response to climate change within a single generation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High standing genetic variation in an invasive plant allows immediate evolutionary response to climate warming

Sun

Bossdorf

Grados

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…As this drop in airborne pollen counts could not be explained by land use change or meteorological factors, it is most likely attributable to feeding damage by O. communa (Bonini et al 2015a, Bonini et al 2015b. At the field plot level, Lommen et al (2018b) showed a negative effect of the presence of O. communa on the density of A. artemisiifolia seeds produced. However, the observed effect of O. communa on A. artemisiifolia plants varied considerably, both at the spatial and temporal scale (Lommen and Augustinus, unpublished data).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

In-season leaf damage by a biocontrol agent explains reproductive output of an invasive plant species

Augustinus

Lommen

Fogliatto

et al. 2020

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One of the biggest challenges in classical biological control of invasive weeds is predicting the likelihood of success. Ambrosia artemisiifolia, a North American plant species that has become invasive in Europe, causes economic losses due to health problems resulting from its huge amount of highly allergenic pollen and as a weed to agricultural crops resulting from high seed densities. Here we assessed whether the pollen and seed output of the annual A. artemisiifolia (at the end of the season) is related to in-season abundance of, or damage by, the accidentally introduced biological control agent Ophraella communa. We monitored the growth and leaf damage of individually labelled A. artemisiifolia plants at four locations in Northern Italy and recorded abundance of different O. communa life stages at regular intervals. We found that the in-season level of leaf damage by O. communa consistently helped to explain seed production in combination with plant volume and site throughout the season. Feeding damage, plant volume and site also explained pollen production by A. artemisiifolia six weeks before male flower formation. At three out of four sites, plants with more than 10% leaf damage in mid-June or early July had a very low likelihood of seed formation. Leaf damage proved to be a better explanatory variable than O. communa abundance. Our results suggest that the monitoring of the in-season leaf damage can help to project the local impact of O. communa on A. artemisiifolia at the end of the season and thus inform management regarding the needs for additional measures to control this prominent invader.

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“…In Northern Italy, O. communa has been shown to reduce populations on a local scale (Lommen et al. ) and, since the arrival of the beetle, airborne A. artemisiifolia pollen counts have dropped by 80%, which cannot be explained by meteorological factors or land use changes (Bonini et al. , b).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting impact of a biocontrol agent: integrating distribution modeling with climate‐dependent vital rates

Augustinus

Sun

Beuchat

et al. 2019

Ecological Applications

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Species distribution models can predict the suitable climatic range of a potential biological control agent (BCA), but they provide little information on the BCA's potential impact. To predict high population buildup, a prerequisite of biocontrol impact, studies are needed that assess the effect of environmental factors on vital rates of a BCA across the environmental gradient of the BCA's suitable habitats, especially for the region where the BCA is considered for field release. We extended a published species distribution model with climate‐dependent vital rates of Ophraella communa, a recently and accidentally introduced potential BCA of common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia in Europe. In field and laboratory experiments, we collected data on climate‐dependent parameters assumed to be the most relevant for the population buildup of O. communa, i.e., temperature driving the number of generations per year and relative humidity (RH) determining egg hatching success. We found that O. communa concluded one generation in 334 cumulative degree days, and that egg hatching success strongly decreased from > 80% to < 20% when RH drops from 55% to 45% during the day. We used these values to spatially explicitly project population densities across the European range suitable for both A. artemisiifolia and the beetle and found that the present distribution of the beetle in Europe is within the range with the highest projected population growth. The highest population density of O. communa was predicted for northern Italy and parts of western Russia and western Georgia. Field observations of high impact on A. artemisiifolia with records of 80% aerial pollen reduction in the Milano area since the establishment of O. communa are in line with these predictions. The relative importance of temperature and RH on the population density of O. communa varies considerably across its suitable range in Europe. We propose that the combined statistical and mechanistic approach outlined in this paper helps to more accurately predict the potential impact of a weed BCA than a species distribution model alone. Identifying the factors limiting the population buildup of a BCA across the suitable range allows implementation of more targeted release and management strategies to optimize biocontrol efficacy.

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Explaining variability in the production of seed and allergenic pollen by invasive Ambrosia artemisiifolia across Europe

Cited by 25 publications

References 47 publications

High standing genetic variation in an invasive plant allows immediate evolutionary response to climate warming

High standing genetic variation in an invasive plant allows immediate evolutionary response to climate warming

In-season leaf damage by a biocontrol agent explains reproductive output of an invasive plant species

Predicting impact of a biocontrol agent: integrating distribution modeling with climate‐dependent vital rates

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