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Phenotypic plasticity rather than locally adapted ecotypes allows the invasive alligator weed to colonize a wide range of habitats

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Abstract

Both phenotypic plasticity and locally adapted ecotypes may contribute to the success of invasive species in a wide range of habitats. Here, we conducted common garden experiments and molecular marker analysis to test the two alternative hypotheses in invasive alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides), which colonizes both aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Ninety individuals from three pairs of aquatic versus terrestrial populations across southern China were analyzed, using inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) marker, to examine population differentiation in neutral loci. Two common gardens simulating aquatic and terrestrial habitats were set up to examine population differentiation in quantitative traits. We found no evidence of population differentiation in both neutral loci and quantitative traits. Most individuals shared the same ISSR genotype. Meanwhile, plants from different habitats showed similar reaction norms across the two common gardens. In particular, plants allocated much more biomass to the belowground roots in the terrestrial environment, where alligator weed may lose part or all of the aboveground shoots because of periodical or accidental disturbances, than those in the aquatic environment. The combined evidence from molecular marker analysis and common garden experiments support the plasticity hypothesis rather than the ecotype hypothesis in explaining the adaptation of alligator weed in a wide range of habitats.

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Abbreviations

SPC:

stem pith cavity diameter

SLA:

specific leaf area

SA:

storage allocation

LSR:

leaf–stem-ratio

SFR:

storage root-fine root-ratio

RCC:

relative chlorophyll content

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr Jihua Wu and Yuguo Wang for helpful discussions. We also thank Jianzhong Lu, Xuan Zhou, Yinghua Luo, Zhicai Chen and Guomei Tong for help with the field survey and harvest. This study was financially supported by 863 project of China, grant number: 2003AA06011000-4-03, National Natural Science Foundation of China 39970061 and 30400052.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai, 200433, P.R. China

    Yu-Peng Geng, Xiao-Yun Pan, Wen-Ju Zhang, Bo Li, Jia-Kuan Chen, Bao-Rong Lu & Zhi-Ping Song

  2. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, 61 Route 9w, Palisades, Palisades, NY, 10964, USA

    Cheng-Yuan Xu

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  1. Yu-Peng Geng
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  4. Wen-Ju Zhang
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Correspondence to Jia-Kuan Chen.

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Geng, YP., Pan, XY., Xu, CY. et al. Phenotypic plasticity rather than locally adapted ecotypes allows the invasive alligator weed to colonize a wide range of habitats. Biol Invasions 9, 245–256 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-006-9029-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-006-9029-1

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