New Phytologist (2015) 205, 1350-1359

Yu-Long Zheng, Yu-Long Feng, Li-Kun Zhang, Ragan M. Callaway, Alfonso Valiente-Banuet, Du-Qiang Luo, Zhi-Yong Liao, Yan-Bao Lei, Gregor F. Barclay and Carlos Silva-Pereyra (2015)
Integrating novel chemical weapons and evolutionarily increased competitive ability in success of a tropical invader
New Phytologist 205 (3), 1350-1359
Abstract: - The evolution of increased competitive ability (EICA) hypothesis and the novel weapons hypothesis (NWH) are two non-mutually exclusive mechanisms for exotic plant invasions, but few studies have simultaneously tested these hypotheses. Here we aimed to integrate them in the context of Chromolaena odorata invasion.
- We conducted two common garden experiments in order to test the EICA hypothesis, and two laboratory experiments in order to test the NWH.
- In common conditions, C. odorata plants from the nonnative range were better competitors but not larger than plants from the native range, either with or without the experimental manipulation of consumers. Chromolaena odorata plants from the nonnative range were more poorly defended against aboveground herbivores but better defended against soil-borne enemies. Chromolaena odorata plants from the nonnative range produced more odoratin (Eupatorium) (a unique compound of C. odorata with both allelopathic and defensive activities) and elicited stronger allelopathic effects on species native to China, the nonnative range of the invader, than on natives of Mexico, the native range of the invader.
- Our results suggest that invasive plants may evolve increased competitive ability after being introduced by increasing the production of novel allelochemicals, potentially in response to naïve competitors and new enemy regimes.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Chromolaena odorata (weed)