Moussab/ORKG-training-evaluation-set huggingface dataset:
Research field: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Title: Do biodiversity and human impact influence the introduction or establishment of alien mammals?
Abstract: What determines the number of alien species in a given region? ‘Native biodiversity’ and ‘human impact’ are typical answers to this question. Indeed, studies comparing different regions have frequently found positive relationships between number of alien species and measures of both native biodiversity (e.g. the number of native species) and human impact (e.g. human population). These relationships are typically explained by biotic acceptance or resistance, i.e. by influence of native biodiversity and human impact on the second step of the invasion process, establishment. The first step of the invasion process, introduction, has often been ignored. Here we investigate whether relationships between number of alien mammals and native biodiversity or human impact in 43 European countries are mainly shaped by differences in number of introduced mammals or establishment success. Our results suggest that correlation between number of native and established mammals is spurious, as it is simply explainable by the fact that both quantities are linked to country area. We also demonstrate that countries with higher human impact host more alien mammals than other countries because they received more introductions than other countries. Differences in number of alien mammals cannot be explained by differences in establishment success. Our findings highlight importance of human activities and question, at least for mammals in Europe, importance of biotic acceptance and resistance.
Extracted statement — Measure of native biodiversity: Number of native species
Research field: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Title: Darwin's naturalization conundrum: dissecting taxonomic patterns of species invasions
Abstract: Darwin acknowledged contrasting, plausible arguments for how species invasions are influenced by phylogenetic relatedness to the native community. These contrasting arguments persist today without clear resolution. Using data on the naturalization and abundance of exotic plants in the Auckland region, we show how different expectations can be accommodated through attention to scale, assumptions about niche overlap, and stage of invasion. Probability of naturalization was positively related to the number of native species in a genus but negatively related to native congener abundance, suggesting the importance of both niche availability and biotic resistance. Once naturalized, however, exotic abundance was not related to the number of native congeners, but positively related to native congener abundance. Changing the scale of analysis altered this outcome: within habitats exotic abundance was negatively related to native congener abundance, implying that native and exotic species respond similarly to broad scale environmental variation across habitats, with biotic resistance occurring within habitats.
Extracted statement — Measure of native biodiversity: Number of native species
Research field: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Title: Phenotypic Plasticity Influences the Size, Shape and Dynamics of the Geographic Distribution of an Invasive Plant
Abstract: Phenotypic plasticity has long been suspected to allow invasive species to expand their geographic range across large-scale environmental gradients. We tested this possibility in Australia using a continental scale survey of the invasive tree Parkinsonia aculeata (Fabaceae) in twenty-three sites distributed across four climate regions and three habitat types. Using tree-level responses, we detected a trade-off between seed mass and seed number across the moisture gradient. Individual trees plastically and reversibly produced many small seeds at dry sites or years, and few big seeds at wet sites and years. Bigger seeds were positively correlated with higher seed and seedling survival rates. The trade-off, the relation between seed mass, seed and seedling survival, and other fitness components of the plant life-cycle were integrated within a matrix population model. The model confirms that the plastic response resulted in average fitness benefits across the life-cycle. Plasticity resulted in average fitness being positively maintained at the wet and dry range margins where extinction risks would otherwise have been high (“Jack-of-all-Trades” strategy JT), and fitness being maximized at the species range centre where extinction risks were already low (“Master-of-Some” strategy MS). The resulting hybrid “Jack-and-Master” strategy (JM) broadened the geographic range and amplified average fitness in the range centre. Our study provides the first empirical evidence for a JM species. It also confirms mechanistically the importance of phenotypic plasticity in determining the size, the shape and the dynamic of a species distribution. The JM allows rapid and reversible phenotypic responses to new or changing moisture conditions at different scales, providing the species with definite advantages over genetic adaptation when invading diverse and variable environments. Furthermore, natural selection pressure acting on phenotypic plasticity is predicted to result in maintenance of the JT and strengthening of the MS, further enhancing the species invasiveness in its range centre.
Extracted statement — Species name: Parkinsonia aculeata
Research field: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Title: Phenotypic plasticity, precipitation, and invasiveness in the fire-promoting grass Pennisetum setaceum (poaceae)
Abstract: Invasiveness may result from genetic variation and adaptation or phenotypic plasticity, and genetic variation in fitness traits may be especially critical. Pennisetum setaceum (fountain grass, Poaceae) is highly invasive in Hawaii (HI), moderately invasive in Arizona (AZ), and less invasive in southern California (CA). In common garden experiments, we examined the relative importance of quantitative trait variation, precipitation, and phenotypic plasticity in invasiveness. In two very different environments, plants showed no differences by state of origin (HI, CA, AZ) in aboveground biomass, seeds/flower, and total seed number. Plants from different states were also similar within watering treatment. Plants with supplemental watering, relative to unwatered plants, had greater biomass, specific leaf area (SLA), and total seed number, but did not differ in seeds/flower. Progeny grown from seeds produced under different watering treatments showed no maternal effects in seed mass, germination, biomass or SLA. High phenotypic plasticity, rather than local adaptation is likely responsible for variation in invasiveness. Global change models indicate that temperature and precipitation patterns over the next several decades will change, although the direction of change is uncertain. Drier summers in southern California may retard further invasion, while wetter summers may favor the spread of fountain grass.
Extracted statement — Species name: Pennisetum setaceum
Research field: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Title: Native jewelweed, but not other native species, displays post-invasion trait divergence
Abstract: Invasive exotic plants reduce the diversity of native communities by displacing native species. According to the coexistence theory, native plants are able to coexist with invaders only when their fitness is not significantly smaller than that of the exotics or when they occupy a different niche. It has therefore been hypothesized that the survival of some native species at invaded sites is due to post-invasion evolutionary changes in fitness and/or niche traits. In common garden experiments, we tested whether plants from invaded sites of two native species, Impatiens noli-tangere and Galeopsis speciosa, outperform conspecifics from non-invaded sites when grown in competition with the invader (Impatiens parviflora). We further examined whether the expected superior performance of the plants from the invaded sites is due to changes in the plant size (fitness proxy) and/or changes in the germination phenology and phenotypic plasticity (niche proxies). Invasion history did not influence the performance of any native species when grown with the exotic competitor. In I. noli-tangere, however, we found significant trait divergence with regard to plant size, germination phenology and phenotypic plasticity. In the absence of a competitor, plants of I. noli-tangere from invaded sites were larger than plants from non-invaded sites. The former plants germinated earlier than inexperienced conspecifics or an exotic congener. Invasion experience was also associated with increased phenotypic plasticity and an improved shade-avoidance syndrome. Although these changes indicate fitness and niche differentiation of I. noli-tangere at invaded sites, future research should examine more closely the adaptive value of these changes and their genetic basis.
Extracted statement — hypothesis: Phenotypic plasticity
Research field: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Title: Jack-of-all-trades: phenotypic plasticity facilitates the invasion of an alien slug species
Abstract: Invasive alien species might benefit from phenotypic plasticity by being able to (i) maintain fitness in stressful environments (‘robust’), (ii) increase fitness in favourable environments (‘opportunistic’), or (iii) combine both abilities (‘robust and opportunistic’). Here, we applied this framework, for the first time, to an animal, the invasive slug, Arion lusitanicus, and tested (i) whether it has a more adaptive phenotypic plasticity compared with a congeneric native slug, Arion fuscus, and (ii) whether it is robust, opportunistic or both. During one year, we exposed specimens of both species to a range of temperatures along an altitudinal gradient (700–2400 m a.s.l.) and to high and low food levels, and we compared the responsiveness of two fitness traits: survival and egg production. During summer, the invasive species had a more adaptive phenotypic plasticity, and at high temperatures and low food levels, it survived better and produced more eggs than A. fuscus, representing the robust phenotype. During winter, A. lusitanicus displayed a less adaptive phenotype than A. fuscus. We show that the framework developed for plants is also very useful for a better mechanistic understanding of animal invasions. Warmer summers and milder winters might lead to an expansion of this invasive species to higher altitudes and enhance its spread in the lowlands, supporting the concern that global climate change will increase biological invasions.
Extracted statement — hypothesis: Phenotypic plasticity
Research field: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Title: Norway maple displays greater seasonal growth and phenotypic plasticity to light than native sugar maple
Abstract: Norway maple (Acer platanoides L), which is among the most invasive tree species in forests of eastern North America, is associated with reduced regeneration of the related native species, sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh) and other native flora. To identify traits conferring an advantage to Norway maple, we grew both species through an entire growing season under simulated light regimes mimicking a closed forest understorey vs. a canopy disturbance (gap). Dynamic shade-houses providing a succession of high-intensity direct-light events between longer periods of low, diffuse light were used to simulate the light regimes. We assessed seedling height growth three times in the season, as well as stem diameter, maximum photosynthetic capacity, biomass allocation above- and below-ground, seasonal phenology and phenotypic plasticity. Given the north European provenance of Norway maple, we also investigated the possibility that its growth in North America might be increased by delayed fall senescence. We found that Norway maple had significantly greater photosynthetic capacity in both light regimes and grew larger in stem diameter than sugar maple. The differences in below- and above-ground biomass, stem diameter, height and maximum photosynthesis were especially important in the simulated gap where Norway maple continued extension growth during the late fall. In the gap regime sugar maple had a significantly higher root : shoot ratio that could confer an advantage in the deepest shade of closed understorey and under water stress or browsing pressure. Norway maple is especially invasive following canopy disturbance where the opposite (low root : shoot ratio) could confer a competitive advantage. Considering the effects of global change in extending the potential growing season, we anticipate that the invasiveness of Norway maple will increase in the future.
Extracted statement — hypothesis: Phenotypic plasticity
Research field: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Title: Latitudinal Patterns in Phenotypic Plasticity and Fitness-Related Traits: Assessing the Climatic Variability Hypothesis (CVH) with an Invasive Plant Species
Abstract: Phenotypic plasticity has been suggested as the main mechanism for species persistence under a global change scenario, and also as one of the main mechanisms that alien species use to tolerate and invade broad geographic areas. However, contrasting with this central role of phenotypic plasticity, standard models aimed to predict the effect of climatic change on species distributions do not allow for the inclusion of differences in plastic responses among populations. In this context, the climatic variability hypothesis (CVH), which states that higher thermal variability at higher latitudes should determine an increase in phenotypic plasticity with latitude, could be considered a timely and promising hypothesis. Accordingly, in this study we evaluated, for the first time in a plant species (Taraxacum officinale), the prediction of the CVH. Specifically, we measured plastic responses at different environmental temperatures (5 and 20°C), in several ecophysiological and fitness-related traits for five populations distributed along a broad latitudinal gradient. Overall, phenotypic plasticity increased with latitude for all six traits analyzed, and mean trait values increased with latitude at both experimental temperatures, the change was noticeably greater at 20° than at 5°C. Our results suggest that the positive relationship found between phenotypic plasticity and geographic latitude could have very deep implications on future species persistence and invasion processes under a scenario of climate change.
Extracted statement — hypothesis: Phenotypic plasticity
Research field: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Title: Architectural strategies of Rhamnus cathartica (Rhamnaceae) in relation to canopy openness
Abstract: While phenotypic plasticity is considered the major means that allows plant to cope with environmental heterogeneity, scant information is available on phenotypic plasticity of the whole-plant architecture in relation to ontogenic processes. We performed an architectural analysis to gain an understanding of the structural and ontogenic properties of common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica L., Rhamnaceae) growing in the understory and under an open canopy. We found that ontogenic effects on growth need to be calibrated if a full description of phenotypic plasticity is to be obtained. Our analysis pointed to three levels of organization (or nested structural units) in R. cathartica. Their modulation in relation to light conditions leads to the expression of two architectural strategies that involve sets of traits known to confer competitive advantage in their respective environments. In the understory, the plant develops a tree-like form. Its strategy here is based on restricting investment in exploitation str...
Extracted statement — hypothesis: Phenotypic plasticity
Research field: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Title: Phenotypic Plasticity and Population Differentiation in an Ongoing Species Invasion
Abstract: The ability to succeed in diverse conditions is a key factor allowing introduced species to successfully invade and spread across new areas. Two non-exclusive factors have been suggested to promote this ability: adaptive phenotypic plasticity of individuals, and the evolution of locally adapted populations in the new range. We investigated these individual and population-level factors in Polygonum cespitosum, an Asian annual that has recently become invasive in northeastern North America. We characterized individual fitness, life-history, and functional plasticity in response to two contrasting glasshouse habitat treatments (full sun/dry soil and understory shade/moist soil) in 165 genotypes sampled from nine geographically separate populations representing the range of light and soil moisture conditions the species inhabits in this region. Polygonum cespitosum genotypes from these introduced-range populations expressed broadly similar plasticity patterns. In response to full sun, dry conditions, genotypes from all populations increased photosynthetic rate, water use efficiency, and allocation to root tissues, dramatically increasing reproductive fitness compared to phenotypes expressed in simulated understory shade. Although there were subtle among-population differences in mean trait values as well as in the slope of plastic responses, these population differences did not reflect local adaptation to environmental conditions measured at the population sites of origin. Instead, certain populations expressed higher fitness in both glasshouse habitat treatments. We also compared the introduced-range populations to a single population from the native Asian range, and found that the native population had delayed phenology, limited functional plasticity, and lower fitness in both experimental environments compared with the introduced-range populations. Our results indicate that the future spread of P. cespitosum in its introduced range will likely be fueled by populations consisting of individuals able to express high fitness across diverse light and moisture conditions, rather than by the evolution of locally specialized populations.
Extracted statement — hypothesis: Phenotypic plasticity
Research field: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Title: Light Response of Native and Introduced Miscanthus sinensis Seedlings
Abstract: The Asian grass Miscanthus sinensis (Poaceae) is being considered for use as a bioenergy crop in the U.S. Corn Belt. Originally introduced to the United States for ornamental plantings, it escaped, forming invasive populations. The concern is that naturalized M. sinensis populations have evolved shade tolerance. We tested the hypothesis that seedlings from within the invasive U.S. range of M. sinensis would display traits associated with shade tolerance, namely increased area for light capture and phenotypic plasticity, compared with seedlings from the native Japanese populations. In a common garden experiment, seedlings of 80 half-sib maternal lines were grown from the native range (Japan) and 60 half-sib maternal lines from the invasive range (U.S.) under four light levels. Seedling leaf area, leaf size, growth, and biomass allocation were measured on the resulting seedlings after 12 wk. Seedlings from both regions responded strongly to the light gradient. High light conditions resulted in seedlings with greater leaf area, larger leaves, and a shift to greater belowground biomass investment, compared with shaded seedlings. Japanese seedlings produced more biomass and total leaf area than U.S. seedlings across all light levels. Generally, U.S. and Japanese seedlings allocated a similar amount of biomass to foliage and equal leaf area per leaf mass. Subtle differences in light response by region were observed for total leaf area, mass, growth, and leaf size. U.S. seedlings had slightly higher plasticity for total mass and leaf area but lower plasticity for measures of biomass allocation and leaf traits compared with Japanese seedlings. Our results do not provide general support for the hypothesis of increased M. sinensis shade tolerance within its introduced U.S. range compared with native Japanese populations. Nomenclature: Eulaliagrass; Miscanthus sinensis Anderss. Management Implications: Eulaliagrass (Miscanthus sinensis), an Asian species under consideration for biomass production in the Midwest, has escaped ornamental plantings in the United States to form naturalized populations. Evidence suggests that U.S. populations are able to tolerate relatively shady conditions, but it is unclear whether U.S. populations have greater shade tolerance than the relatively shade-intolerant populations within the species' native range in Asia. Increased shade tolerance could result in a broader range of invaded light environments within the introduced range of M. sinensis. However, results from our common garden experiment do not support the hypothesis of increased shade tolerance in introduced U.S. populations compared with seedlings from native Asian populations. Our results do demonstrate that for both U.S. and Japanese populations under low light conditions, M. sinensis seeds germinate and seedlings gain mass and leaf area; therefore, land managers should carefully monitor or eradicate M. sinensis within these habitats.
Extracted statement — hypothesis: Phenotypic plasticity
Research field: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Title: Phenotypic Plasticity in the Invasion of Crofton Weed (Eupatorium adenophorum) in China
Abstract: <jats:p>Phenotypic plasticity and rapid evolution are two important strategies by which invasive species adapt to a wide range of environments and consequently are closely associated with plant invasion. To test their importance in invasion success of Crofton weed, we examined the phenotypic response and genetic variation of the weed by conducting a field investigation, common garden experiments, and intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR) marker analysis on 16 populations in China. Molecular markers revealed low genetic variation among and within the sampled populations. There were significant differences in leaf area (LA), specific leaf area (SLA), and seed number (SN) among field populations, and plasticity index (PI<jats:sub>v</jats:sub>) for LA, SLA, and SN were 0.62, 0.46 and 0.85, respectively. Regression analyses revealed a significant quadratic effect of latitude of population origin on LA, SLA, and SN based on field data but not on traits in the common garden experiments (greenhouse and open air). Plants from different populations showed similar reaction norms across the two common gardens for functional traits. LA, SLA, aboveground biomass, plant height at harvest, first flowering day, and life span were higher in the greenhouse than in the open-air garden, whereas SN was lower. Growth conditions (greenhouse vs. open air) and the interactions between growth condition and population origin significantly affect plant traits. The combined evidence suggests high phenotypic plasticity but low genetically based variation for functional traits of Crofton weed in the invaded range. Therefore, we suggest that phenotypic plasticity is the primary strategy for Crofton weed as an aggressive invader that can adapt to diverse environments in China.</jats:p>
Extracted statement — hypothesis: Phenotypic plasticity