Abstract
Allelopathy, the release of chemicals by plants that inhibit the germination and growth of competing species, can be an important trait for invasive success. However, little is known about potential biogeographical differences in allelopathy due to divergent regional eco-evolutionary histories. To test this, we examined the allelochemical potential of the highly invasive species Centaurea solstitialis from six world regions including native (Spain, Turkey) and non-native ranges (Argentina, Chile, California and Australia). Seeds from several populations in each region were collected and grown under common garden conditions. Allelopathic potential and chemical composition of three leaf extract concentrations of C. solstitialis from each region: 0.25%, 0.5% 0.75% (w/v−1) were assessed on the phytometer Lactuca sativa. The main allelochemicals present in the leaf-surface extract were sesquiterpene lactones that varied in major constitutive compounds across regions. These leaf extracts had strong inhibitory effects on L. sativa seed germination and net growth. Summed across regions, the 0.25% concentration suppressed germination by 72% and radicle elongation by 66%, relative to the controls. At the 0.5% concentration, no seeds germinated when exposed to extracts from the non-native ranges of Argentina and Chile, whereas germination and radicle growth were reduced by 98% and 89%, respectively, in the remaining regions, relative to controls. Germination and seedling growth were completely inhibited at the 0.75% concentration extract for all regions. Some non-native regions were characterized by relatively lower concentrations of allelochemicals, suggesting that there is biogeographical variation in allelopathic expression. These findings imply that rapid selection on the biochemical signatures of an exotic invasive plant species can be highly region-specific across the world.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to Soraia Branco, João Filipe and Andreia Jorge for help with the lab work. REI and DM thank the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and the co-funding by the Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER), within the PT2020 and COMPETE 2020 program, for scholarships and grants: UID/BIA/04004/2013; IF-00066-2013; PTDC/BIA-PLA/0763/2014; SFRH/BD/110987/2015. SL and TPM thank Coimbra Chemistry Centre (CQC), supported by FCT through project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007630, co-funded by COMPETE2020-UE. SL also acknowledge FCT for the post-doctoral research grant SFRH/BPD/84413/2012. RMC acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation EPSCoR Cooperative Agreement OIA-1757351. CJL is supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to examine plant dynamics in California, USA. LAC acknowledge funding from Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (FONDECYT-1171005).
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REI and DM designed the study, SMML and TMVDPM performed the chemical analysis, GS, LAC, ÖE, CJL, KF, JLH, collected plant seeds, REI, SMML, CR, RMC and DM analyzed the data. REI and DM lead the writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed to earlier drafts of this manuscript and gave final approval for publication.
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Additional information on the statistical tests conducted in this study are included in the Supporting Information for this manuscript. Data on the collinearity test is included in Appendix S1, Tukey post hoc tests may be found in Appendix S2 and the germination indices are included in the Appendix S3. (DOCX 6,113 kb)
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Irimia, R.E., Lopes, S.M.M., Sotes, G. et al. Biogeographic differences in the allelopathy of leaf surface extracts of an invasive weed. Biol Invasions 21, 3151–3168 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-019-02038-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-019-02038-1