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Contrasting trait responses to latitudinal climate variation in two lineages of an invasive grass

  • PHRAGMITES INVASION
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Abstract

Plants are expected to respond to global environmental change through shifts in functional traits and in their ranges. These shifts could alter productivity and interactions among species or genetic lineages, ultimately leading to changes in distributions and abundance. In particular, cosmopolitan species are predicted to increase growth with decreasing latitude due to differences in climate and temperature. The pattern of changes in growth may vary among genotypes within species, leading to different responses with latitude. To evaluate whether climate can affect geographically distinct genotypes of cosmopolitan invasive species differently, we evaluated the trait responses of two lineages of the common reed, Phragmites australis, to variation in environmental conditions spanning North America’s Atlantic coast. Using three reciprocal transplant common gardens, we tested for the effects of garden location and plant lineage on traits related to biomass production, flowering frequency, leaf morphology, and leaf-level physiology. We found that aboveground biomass, stem density, and flowering frequency responded non-linearly to increasing latitude in one or both lineages. These results suggest that measures of plant traits over narrow latitudinal ranges may not accurately reflect organismal-level responses to global change at broad spatial scales. Given the responses to latitude that we observed in P. australis, we propose that feedbacks between growth and reproductive rate will influence range shifts in these two lineages. Such range shifts could lead to genetic admixtures, subsequently yielding more productive, locally-adapted genotypes.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was provided by the Smithsonian Marine Science Network to TJM, the US National Science Foundation (DEB-0950080 to TJM and DEB-1049914 to LAM), the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Rhode Island’s College of Environment and Life Sciences to LAM (Project RI00H-332 and 311000-6044), a Smithsonian Postdoctoral Fellowship to TJM, and a Bucher-Jackson Postdoctoral Fellowship to JSC. The authors thank J. Patrick Megonigal, Andrew Peresta, Matthew Seal, Glenn Coldren, William Teasley, and Donna Devlin for field and laboratory assistance. We thank two anonymous reviewers for comments that improved the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Rachel N. Hager

    Present address: Ecology Center and Department of Watershed Sciences, Utah State University, 5210 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT, 84322, USA

  2. C. Edward Proffitt

    Present address: Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, 78412, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Bryn Mawr College, 101 N Merion Ave, Bryn Mawr, PA, 19010, USA

    Thomas J. Mozdzer, Joshua S. Caplan & Rachel N. Hager

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University – Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, 5600 US 1, Fort Pierce, FL, 34946, USA

    C. Edward Proffitt

  3. Department of Natural Resources Science, University of Rhode Island, 1 Greenhouse Road, Kingston, RI, 02881, USA

    Laura A. Meyerson

Authors
  1. Thomas J. Mozdzer
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  2. Joshua S. Caplan
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  3. Rachel N. Hager
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  4. C. Edward Proffitt
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  5. Laura A. Meyerson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas J. Mozdzer.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Guest Editors: Laura A. Meyerson and Kristin Saltonstall/Phragmites invasion.

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Mozdzer, T.J., Caplan, J.S., Hager, R.N. et al. Contrasting trait responses to latitudinal climate variation in two lineages of an invasive grass. Biol Invasions 18, 2649–2660 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-016-1218-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-016-1218-y

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