Weedy and seedy: the rapid evolution of life-history characteristics in an introduced daisy.

ABSTRACT: Despite the importance of life-history characteristics in determining a species' success, we still lack basic information about some fundamental life-history elements found across the life cycle of introduced plants. Our study assesses rapid evolutionary divergence in life-history characteristics of the beach daisy Arctotheca populifolia by comparing introduced Australian and source South African plants and measuring eight key variables including seed mass, germination, reproductive output and survival. This is the first study that compares the life history of an introduced plant species with its single original source population, providing a precise and powerful method for detecting evolutionary divergence. We found that introduced A. populifolia has evolved a suite of weedy

SUBMITTER: Brandenburger CR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9449359 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature