A mosaic of phenotypic variation in giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida): Local- and continental-scale patterns in a range-expanding agricultural weed.

ABSTRACT: Spatial patterns of trait variation across a species' range have implications for population success and evolutionary change potential, particularly in range-expanding and weedy species that encounter distinct selective pressures at large and small spatial scales simultaneously. We investigated intraspecific trait variation in a common garden experiment with giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida), a highly variable agricultural weed with an expanding geographic range and broad ecological amplitude. Our study included paired populations from agricultural and natural riparian habitats in each of seven regions ranging east to west from the core of the species' distribution in central Ohio to southeastern Minnesota, which is nearer the current invasion front. We observed trait variation acros

SUBMITTER: Hovick SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5999201 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature