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Propagule resistance of an invasive Poaceae as a trait of its invasiveness

  • Ecology & Biogeography - Short Communication
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Abstract

Biological invasions and consequent mass development of aquatic macrophytes constitute a significant threat to aquatic environments. As a consequence, species invasiveness is becoming of great interest. Urochloa arrecta is a mass development invasive Poaceae that has caused many impacts in freshwaters in Brazil. Studies have described its remarkable tolerance to stressful conditions, but propagules resistance to desiccation while in dispersion is unknown. Here, we analyzed through a microcosm experiment U. arrecta’s small propagules regeneration after desiccation and without any sediment—thus simulating a transportation scenario. As expected, the longer the time of stress, the lower the propagule regeneration performance. Even so, the macrophyte propagules can survive up to six days off of water and any sediment. Even when the propagules seemed unviable, there was some degree of regeneration. As a consequence of the results, we state that removal and transportation of U. arrecta should be controlled considering the propagule viability.

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Acknowledgements

A. A. Padial acknowledges the National scientific and technological development board (CNPQ) for continuous financial support (process number of current researcher scholarship: 308648/2021-8, see funding information for previous supports); L. S. Bora also acknowledges CAPES for student scholarship (financial code 001). This research had the support of Research Council of Norway (297202/E10), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (033WU005), the French Agence National de Recherche (No. ANR-18-IC4W-0004-06), the South African Water Research Commission (K5/2951), and the Araucária Foundation in Brazil (No. 186/2019) for funding of MadMacs (Mass development of aquatic macrophytes—causes and consequences of macrophyte removal for ecosystem structure, function, and services) in the frame of the collaborative international consortium of the 2017 call of the Water Challenges for a Changing World Joint Program Initiative (Water JPI).

Funding

This work was supported by the National Scientific and Technological Development Board (process numbers: 307984/2015-0, 402828/2016-0, 301867/2018-6, 308648/2021-8). Author Bora L.S has received research support from Personal Higher Education Improvement Coordination (CAPES, financial code 001) by student scholarship. This research had the support of Research Council of Norway (297202/E10), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (033WU005), the French Agence National de Recherche (No. ANR-18-IC4W-0004-06), the South African Water Research Commission (K5/2951), and the Fundação Araucária in Brazil (No. 186/2019) for funding of MadMacs (Mass development of aquatic macrophytes—causes and consequences of macrophyte removal for ecosystem structure, function, and services) in the frame of the collaborative international consortium of the 2017 call of the Water Challenges for a Changing World Joint Programme Initiative (Water JPI). This work has previously been published as a preprint on Research Square. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2370056/v1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Análise e Síntese em Biodiversidade, Departamento de Botânica, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

    Leticia Siman Bora & Andre Andrian Padial

  2. Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos Continentais, Núcleo de Pesquisa em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aquicultura (Nupelia), Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, PR, Brazil

    Andre Andrian Padial

  3. Programa de Pós-graduação em Botânica, Departamento de Botânica, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

    Andre Andrian Padial

Authors
  1. Leticia Siman Bora
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  2. Andre Andrian Padial
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material collection was made by both authors, and data collection and analysis were performed by LSB. All drafts of the manuscript were written by LSB and AAP. LSB and AAP read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Andre Andrian Padial.

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The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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Bora, L.S., Padial, A.A. Propagule resistance of an invasive Poaceae as a trait of its invasiveness. Braz. J. Bot 46, 1089–1093 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-023-00952-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-023-00952-2

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