Populations evolving towards failure: costs of adaptation under competition at the range edge of an invasive perennial plant

Wan, Justin S. H.; Fazlioglu, Fatih; Bonser, Stephen P.

doi:10.1080/17550874.2016.1244575

Cited by 11 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Our results add to a growing body of data (Bonser, ; Bonser & Ladd, ; Goldberg et al, ; Hansen & Wilson, ; Keating & Aarssen, ; Kulpa & Leger, ; Schamp, Aarssen, & Wight, ; Tracey & Aarssen, ; Tracey et al, ; Wan, Fazlioglu, & Bonser, ) that challenge traditional theory in plant ecology, which commonly defines superior competitive success/dominance in terms of relatively large size/growth accumulation metrics (Grime, ; Keddy, ). The data point instead to greater recognition of importance for regeneration traits in mechanisms of community assembly in crowded vegetation (Aarssen, ; Bonser, ; Bonser & Aarssen, ; Larson & Funk, ; Moles, ; Trinder, Brooker, & Robinson, ; Vitova, Macek, & Leps, ; Wan et al, ; Younginger, Sirova, Cruzan, & Ballhorn, ). A potential size advantage will certainly be important in terms of potential offspring production; that is, larger plant body size, both within‐species (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Resident species with larger size metrics do not recruit more offspring from the soil seed bank in old‐field meadow vegetation

Tracey

Aarssen

2018

Journal of Ecology

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1. According to the traditional "Size Advantage" (SA) hypothesis, plant species with larger body size are expected to be more successful when competition is intense, that is, within severely crowded vegetation. Recent studies in old-field habitats, however, have shown that those species with greater numerical abundance as resident plants generally have a relatively small minimum reproductive threshold size (MIN), not a relatively large maximum potential body size (MAX).2. In this study, we test for a size advantage in terms of species abundance representation in the soil seed bank, and we extend the SA hypothesis to include two additional size metrics: leaf size and seed size. Specifically, we ask, for resident species within a crowded old-field meadow: is larger seed size, leaf size, and/or body size associated with greater reproductive / recruitment success (i.e. number of germinable seeds within-and establishing plants emerging from-the soil seed bank)? We collected soil cores for a greenhouse experiment to record relative species abundances of germinable seeds in the seed bank, and we used a field experiment to record local abundances of species emerging from the resident seed bank within denuded plant neighbourhoods over three subsequent field seasons.3. We found no general support for the SA hypothesis involving any of the size metrics, and none of the latter was a strong predictor of the number of germinable seeds emerging from soil cores in the greenhouse experiment. However, for species establishing in the field experiment from the seed bank over the 3-year survey period, more abundant species in years 2 and 3 tended to be those with smaller MIN, and thus smaller MAX. In addition, within more crowded neighbourhoods, representation of reproductive plants was generally greater for species with relatively small MIN (and hence small MAX). Synthesis.Our results extend the support for the "Reproductive Economy Advantage" hypothesis in old-field habitats, to include not just established, largely undisturbed vegetation, but also very early stages of recruitment from seed within locally crowded plant neighbourhoods. Specifically, more successful species here are not those with relatively large potential body size (MAX); they are species capable of producing at least some offspring despite severe body size suppression, K E Y W O R D S body size, competition, leaf size, leafing intensity, reproductive economy, seed bank, seed size, species abundance | 1069 Journal of Ecology TRACEY ET Al.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Resident species with larger size metrics do not recruit more offspring from the soil seed bank in old‐field meadow vegetation

Tracey

Aarssen

2018

Journal of Ecology

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“…There, we found edge plants allocated more poorly to reproduction and demonstrated disproportionately low performance compared to centre plants under higher competition (Wan et al . ). This finding suggests adaptation costs may be manifested under benign or competitive habitats; and is consistent with the predicted trade‐off with slow life‐history strategy (Stearns ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Loss of plasticity in life‐history strategy associated with secondary invasion into stressful environments in invasive narrowleaf plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.)

2018

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Adaptation to changing environments is a fundamental process occurring throughout a species' range, particularly under novel and stressful conditions at the range-edges of invasive species. However, the evolutionary consequences associated with adaptation are still poorly understood. Secondary invasion into stressful areas may incur fitness costs that could limit range expansion. In addition, developmental plasticity is predicted to be lost under strong selection in stressful habitats. We assessed populations across a range transect of an invasive plant (Plantago lanceolata L.) for a loss of developmental plasticity and for adaptation costs, where there was prior expansion inland into stressful and novel areas from relatively benign areas closer to the coast. In the glasshouse, we grew plants from seed originating from two secondary invasion locations (near-edge and edge), and from the range centre location representing the area of primary invasion. Plants were exposed to high or low nutrient treatment, and novel copper stress and control (no copper) treatment to assess adaptation costs associated with secondary invasion. In addition, we compared the costs in near-edge and edge plants. Developmental plasticity in life-history traits was lost for secondary invasion plants compared to plants from the range centre. Plants from secondary invasion locations expressed a slower life-history under both nutrient treatments. In contrast, range-centre plants were able to switch to a faster life-history under high nutrient treatment. Our copper treatment had only slight effects on plants, where they expressed intermediate specific leaf area (SLA) under copper treatment. Near-edge plants had the lowest plant size and reproduction. The loss of plasticity associated with secondary invasion may have implications on evolution in range-edge populations. Phenotypic plasticity may have initially mediated ecological adaptation to stressful habitats; however, adaptation to stressful conditions can also have the consequence of inhibiting further range expansion in invasive species.

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“…The high competition treatment consisted of the grass competitor being left to grow. In a previous experiment involving the same size of pots used in this experiment, clipping the grass competitor to 5 cm was adequate for simulating low levels of competition, whereas unclipped grass would grow extensively in the pots and is appropriate as a high competition treatment (Wan et al, 2016). P. monspeliensis is an introduced grass species widespread throughout Australia and overlaps the ranges of all study species (PlantNET, http://www.plantnet.…”

Section: Experimental Design and Treatmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…high SLA is related to fast growth and reproduction; low SLA is related to resource conservation and slow growth). Assessment of the allocation or life-history strategy used by plants under competition could be useful in interpreting plant responses (Jiménz-Ambriz et al, 2007;Wan et al, 2016). At the end of the experiment, all plant materials including the roots were cleaned, and then dried in a drying oven at 60 °C for 24 h. The material was then weighed to measure the total dry weight (g).…”

Section: Measurement Of Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ecological specialization may be associated with costs in the presence of enemies (e.g., herbivores or competition) (Vila-Aiub et al, 2009). Stressful habitat specialists tend to express lower performance under competition compared to nonspecialized ancestral genotypes (Warwick and Black, 1981;Ahrens and Stoller, 1983;Gassman and Futuyma, 2005;Wan et al, 2016) because they may invest their resources in stress resistance, which trade off with performance traits, such as biomass (Grubb, 2016). Therefore, poor performance under competition could explain the restriction of specialists to their habitats, particularly in cases where there is a lack of clear costs under low-stress conditions (Harper et al, 1997;.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Competitiveness of generalist plant populations at a mine site

Wan¹,

Fazlioglu²,

Bonser³

2019

Turk J Bot

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Plants inhabiting extremely stressful mine site environments tend to be specialized and localized, where they express lower performance than nonmine site plants from adjacent areas. However, such a cost may be concealed. In a previous study at a mine site, we found mine and adjacent nonmine plants of multiple species expressed similar performances in the absence of competition. However, a lower competitive ability may be a concealed driver. We aim to test whether costs under competition could explain specialization. In a glasshouse experiment, we measured the performance (i.e. vegetative and reproductive growth) of mine and nonmine potted plants under competition. The 6 herbaceous species tested were Anagallis arvensis L., Cirsium vulgare (Savi) Ten., Conyza sumatrensis Retz., Echium vulgare L., Oxalis chnoodes Lourteig, and Senecio diaschides D.G.Drury. We exposed individuals to interspecific competition using a local grass (Polypogon monspeliensis), as well as to intraspecific competition. Plants were grown alone for the control group. For all treatments, the mine plants expressed similar performances to the nonmine plants, except for mine site O. chnoodes, which had lower performance under intraspecific competition. Mine plants of A. arvensis and C. sumatrensis had higher performance than nonmine plants. Overall, there was no evidence of specialization in the mine site plants. These results indicate that, under some circumstances, inhabiting a stressful metal habitat does not promote specialization in multiple species. Future research may focus on assessing the environmental conditions and population genetics that promote the evolution of generalists that inhabit extremely stressful environments.

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Populations evolving towards failure: costs of adaptation under competition at the range edge of an invasive perennial plant

Cited by 11 publications

References 54 publications

Resident species with larger size metrics do not recruit more offspring from the soil seed bank in old‐field meadow vegetation

Resident species with larger size metrics do not recruit more offspring from the soil seed bank in old‐field meadow vegetation

Loss of plasticity in life‐history strategy associated with secondary invasion into stressful environments in invasive narrowleaf plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.)

Competitiveness of generalist plant populations at a mine site

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