Comparative impacts of aboveground and belowground enemies on an invasive thistle.

ABSTRACT: Most research examining how herbivores and pathogens affect performance of invasive plants focuses on aboveground interactions. Although important, the role of belowground communities remains poorly understood, and the relative impact of aboveground and belowground interactions is still debated. As well, most studies of belowground interactions have been carried out in controlled environments, so little is known about the role of these interactions under natural conditions or how these relationships may change across a plant's range. Using the invasive plant Cirsium arvense, we performed a reciprocal transplant experiment to test the relative impacts of above- and belowground interactions at three sites across a 509-km latitudinal gradient in its invaded range in Ontario, Canada. At

SUBMITTER: Nunes KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5792520 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature