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An ecological comparison of Impatiens glandulifera Royle in the native and introduced range

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Abstract

Understanding the ecology of plant species in their whole range (native and introduced) can provide insights into those that become problematic weeds in the introduced range despite being benign components of the vegetative community in the native range. We studied the morphological traits of Impatiens glandulifera in the native (Indian Himalayas) and introduced (UK) range and evaluated what influences natural enemies and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have on plant performance. We compared height, total leaf area, root: shoot ratio, natural enemy damage and the colonisation of AMF from individual plants within and between ranges twice in 2010 during the months of June and August. In addition, in August 2010, we estimated the number of reproductive units (expressed as the sum of flowers, seed capsule and seeds) at each site. We found that all morphological traits varied between populations and countries, though in general introduced populations, and the semi-natural population in India, showed higher performance compared to natural native populations. There was only an indication that natural enemy damage, which was significantly higher in the native range, negatively affected reproductive units. Within the introduced range, the percentage colonisation of AMF was negatively associated with plant performance indicating that I. glandulifera may associate with an incompatible AMF species incurring a cost to invasive populations. We conclude that species which are heavily regulated in the native range, though still show high levels of performance, should be considered undesirable introductions into similar ecoclimatic ranges due to the potential that these species will become highly invasive species.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Scottish Executive. We would like to thank all landowners for allowing access to their land for this study. We would also like to thank Sonal Varia, Corin Pratt and Mool Chand Singh for providing field support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CABI, Bakeham Lane, Egham, Surrey, TW20 9TY, UK

    Robert A. Tanner, Richard Shaw & Sean T. Murphy

  2. State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, School of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730020, China

    Liang Jin

  3. School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK

    Liang Jin & Alan C. Gange

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  1. Robert A. Tanner
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  2. Liang Jin
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Correspondence to Robert A. Tanner.

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Communicated by Lara Souza.

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Tanner, R.A., Jin, L., Shaw, R. et al. An ecological comparison of Impatiens glandulifera Royle in the native and introduced range. Plant Ecol 215, 833–843 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-014-0335-x

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