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Impact of drought on plant populations of native and invasive origins

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Abstract

Invasive populations often shift phenotypically during introduction. Moreover, they are postulated to show an increased phenotypic plasticity compared with their native counterparts, which could be advantageous. However, less is known about trait selection across populations along the invasion gradient in response to environmental factors, such as increasing drought caused by climate change. In this study, we investigated the impacts of drought on growth, regrowth, and various leaf traits in plants of different origin. Therefore, seeds of 18 populations of the perennial Tanacetum vulgare were collected along the invasion gradient (North America, invasive; West Europe, archaeophyte; East Europe, native) and grown in competition with the grass Poa pratensis under control or dry conditions in a common garden. Above-ground biomass was cut once and the regrowth was measured as an indicator for tolerance over a second growth period. Initially, drought had little effects on growth of T. vulgare, but after cutting, plants grew more vigorously. Against expectations, phenotypic plasticity was not higher in invasive populations, but even reduced in one trait, which may be attributable to ecological constraints imposed by multiple stress conditions. Trait responses reflected the range expansion and invasion gradient and were influenced by the latitudinal origin of populations. Populations of invaded ranges may be subject to faster and more extensive genetic mixing or had less time to undergo and reflect selective processes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Simon Waldherr, Felix Lansing, and Caroline Pons for support in sowing, watering, and harvest. Detlef Balten and Gebhard Sewing are thanked for support in plant transport to the common garden. Ruth Jacobs as well as two anonymous reviewers are thanked for valuable comments on the manuscript. The kind suppliers of seeds from various T. vulgare populations are listed in Wolf et al. (2011) and are gratefully acknowledged.

Author contribution statement

The conception and design of the study were performed by SK and CM. SK and LW carried out the common garden experiment. SK performed the statistical analysis of the paper and SK and CM wrote the manuscript. The final version was approved by all authors.

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Correspondence to Caroline Müller.

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Communicated by Hermann Heilmeier.

This study advances our understanding of plant responses to current major challenges induced by anthropogenic disturbance such as species invasions and climate change. It demonstrates that plants of an invasive perennial grown in competition under different drought conditions grew even more vigorously after cutting, highlighting the pronounced tolerance of this species.

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Kleine, S., Weissinger, L. & Müller, C. Impact of drought on plant populations of native and invasive origins. Oecologia 183, 9–20 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-016-3706-2

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