Tesfay Yohannes B, Blaschke Annika, Ashley Nathan, Portillo Liberato, Scalisi Alessio, Adli Benziane, Kreyling Juergen
Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, 17489 Greifswald, Germany.
Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
Plants (Basel). 2023 Sep 17;12(18):3287. doi: 10.3390/plants12183287.
Biological invasions pose global threats to biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Invasive species often display a high degree of phenotypic plasticity, enabling them to adapt to new environments. This study examines plasticity to water stress in native and invasive populations, a prevalent invader in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Through controlled greenhouse experiments, we evaluated three native and nine invasive populations. While all plants survived the dry treatment, natives exhibited lower plasticity to high water availability with only a 36% aboveground biomass increase compared to the invasives with a greater increase of 94%. In terms of belowground biomass, there was no significant response to increased water availability for native populations, but plants from the invasive populations showed a 75% increase from the dry to the wet treatment. Enhanced phenotypic plasticity observed in invasive populations of is likely a significant driver of their success and invasiveness across different regions, particularly with a clear environmental preference towards less arid conditions. Climate change is expected to amplify the invasion success due to the expansion of arid areas and desertification. adapts to diverse environments, survives dry spells, and grows rapidly in times of high-water supply, making it a candidate for increased invasion potential with climate change.
生物入侵对生物多样性和生态系统功能构成全球威胁。入侵物种通常表现出高度的表型可塑性，使其能够适应新环境。本研究考察了本地种群和入侵种群对水分胁迫的可塑性，（研究对象）是干旱和半干旱生态系统中一种常见的入侵物种。通过控制温室实验，我们评估了3个本地种群和9个入侵种群。虽然所有植物都在干旱处理中存活下来，但本地种群对高水分可利用性的可塑性较低，地上生物量仅增加36%，而入侵种群的增加幅度更大，为94%。在地下生物量方面，本地种群对水分可利用性增加没有显著反应，但入侵种群的植物从干旱处理到湿润处理地下生物量增加了75%。在入侵种群中观察到的增强的表型可塑性可能是它们在不同地区成功入侵的一个重要驱动因素，特别是在明显偏爱干旱程度较低环境的情况下。由于干旱地区的扩大和荒漠化，预计气候变化将加剧入侵的成功。（该物种）能适应多种环境，在干旱期存活，并在高水分供应时迅速生长，使其成为气候变化下入侵潜力增加的一个候选物种。
