The exotic invasive plant Vincetoxicum rossicum is a strong competitor even outside its current realized climatic temperature range

Abstract

Citation: Sanderson LA, Antunes PM (2013) The exotic invasive plant Vincetoxicum rossicum is a strong competitor even outside its current realized climatic temperature range. NeoBiota 16: 1-16. doi: 10.3897/neobiota.16.4012 Abstract Dog-strangling vine (Vincetoxicum rossicum) is an exotic plant originating from Central and Eastern Europe that is becoming increasingly invasive in southern Ontario, Canada. Once established, it successfully displaces local native plant species but mechanisms behind this plant's high competitive ability are not fully understood. It is unknown whether cooler temperatures will limit the range expansion of V. rossicum, which has demonstrated high tolerance for other environmental variables such as light and soil moisture. Furthermore, if V. rossicum can establish outside its current climatic limit it is unknown whether competition with native species can significantly contribute to reduce fitness and slow down invasion. We conducted an experiment to test the potential of V. rossicum to spread into northern areas of Ontario using a set of growth chambers to simulate southern and northern Ontario climatic temperature regimes. We also tested plant-plant competition by growing V. rossicum in pots with a highly abundant native species, Solidago canadensis, and comparing growth responses to plants grown alone. We found that the fitness of V. rossicum was not affected by the cooler climate despite a delay in reproductive phenology. Growing V. rossicum with S. canadensis caused a significant reduction in seedpod biomass of V. rossicum. However, we did not detect a temperature x competition interaction in spite of evidence for adaptation of S. canadensis to cooler temperature conditions. We conclude that the spread of V. rossicum north within the tested range is unlikely to be limited by climatic temperature but competition with an abundant native species may contribute to slow it down.

Are urban systems beneficial, detrimental, or indifferent for biological invasion?

“…As one would expect, this has been shown to have negative impacts on the diversity of other trophic levels (Ernst and Cappuccino 2005). Several studies have examined potential mechanisms driving invasion by V. rossicum throughout these regions [e.g., enemy release (Milbrath 2008), propagule pressure and fitness (Ladd and Cappuccino 2005), broad environmental niche breadth (DiTommaso et al 2005;Yasui 2016), associations with fungal generalists (Bongard et al 2013), novel allelopathic compounds (Douglass et al 2009), strong allee effect (Cappuccino 2004), a high degree of phenotypic plasticity (Yasui 2016), and toleration of low resources and significant local adaptation (Antunes and Sanderson 2013)]. Despite research showing that the vast majority of V. rossicum seeds fall relatively close to the parent plant (Ladd and Cappuccino 2005), occasional strong wind events can carry V. rossicum's feathery pappus-covered seeds significant distances leading to widespread invasion.…”

Biology of Invasive Plants 3. Vincetoxicum nigrum (L.) Moench and Vincetoxicum rossicum (Kleopow) Barbarich

“…Within their bioclimatic envelopes (see “Habitat”), V. rossicum and V. nigrum are limited by competition from resident plant species. Greenhouse and growth chamber experiments have shown that competition against A. syriaca , Canada goldenrod ( Solidago canadensis L.), and quackgrass [ Elymus repens (L.) Gould] can substantially reduce Vincetoxicum performance (Blanchard et al 2010; Jackson and Amatangelo 2021; Milbrath et al 2019a; Sanderson and Antunes 2013). Research on V. nigrum has demonstrated that competitive responses are shaped by competitive environments over evolutionary time (Atwood and Meyerson 2011).…”

Honey bees are the dominant diurnal pollinator of native milkweed in a large urban park

“…(Asclepiadaceae), known as the Dog‐strangling vine (DSV) in Canada, is a perennial vine native to Ukraine and Russia and has become very invasive in eastern North American open meadow and forest understory habitats, particularly between Ottawa and London in Ontario, Canada, and in parts of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York states in the USA (DiTommaso, Lawlor, & Darbyshire, ; Ernst & Cappuccino, ; Sheeley & Raynal, ). Once established, DSV displaces most surrounding herbaceous vegetation indiscriminately through rapid growth that quickly overtakes and “strangles” surrounding plants, including tree saplings, as they compete for access to sunlight (Antunes & Sanderson, ). DSV is also classified as a milkweed (Bongard, Navaranjan, Yan, & Fulthorpe, ) and so the potential competitive interactions for habitat are amplified as DSV establishes and exploits niches similar to those occupied by A. syriaca .…”

“…Many North American habitats are experiencing unprecedented invasion by herbaceous veg- (DiTommaso, Lawlor, & Darbyshire, 2005;Ernst & Cappuccino, 2005;Sheeley & Raynal, 1996). Once established, DSV displaces most surrounding herbaceous vegetation indiscriminately through rapid growth that quickly overtakes and "strangles" surrounding plants, including tree saplings, as they compete for access to sunlight (Antunes & Sanderson, 2013). DSV is also classified as a milkweed (Bongard, Navaranjan, Yan, & Fulthorpe, 2013) and so the potential competitive interactions for habitat are amplified as DSV establishes and exploits niches similar to those occupied by A. syriaca.…”