No evidence for local adaptation in an invasive alien plant: field and greenhouse experiments tracing a colonization sequence.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Local adaptation enables plant species to persist under different environmental conditions. Evolutionary change can occur rapidly in invasive annual species and has been shown to lead to local adaptation. However, the patterns and mechanisms of local adaptation in invasive species along colonization sequences are not yet understood. Thus, in this study the alien annual Impatiens glandulifera was used to investigate local adaptation to distinct habitats that have been consecutively invaded in central Europe.

Methods

A reciprocal transplant experiment was performed using 15 populations from alluvial deciduous forests, fallow meadows and coniferous upland forests, and a greenhouse experiment was performed in which plants from these habitats were grown under

SUBMITTER: Pahl AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3838567 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature