Drought tolerance and plasticity in the invasive knapweed Centaurea stoebe s.l. (Asteraceae): effect of populations stronger than those of cytotype and range.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe s.l., Asteraceae) is native to Europe, where it occurs as a diploid (2xEU) and tetraploid cytotype (4xEU), but so far only the tetraploid has been reported in the introduced range in North America (4xNA). In previous studies, significant range shifts have been found towards drier climates in 4xEU compared with 2xEU, and in 4xNA when compared with the native range. In addition, 4x plants showed thicker leaves and reduced specific leaf area compared with 2x plants, suggesting higher drought tolerance in 4x plants. It is thus hypothesized that the 4x cytotype might be better pre-adapted to drought than the 2x, and the 4xNA better adapted than the 4xEU due to post-introduction selection.

Methods

Plants of the three geocytoty

SUBMITTER: Mraz P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4111397 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature