Abstract
Plant species show different responses to the elevated temperatures that are resulting from global climate change, depending on their ecological and physiological characteristics. The highly invasive shrub Lantana camara occurs between the latitudes of 35°N and 35°S. According to current and future climate scenarios predicted by the CLIMEX model, climatically suitable areas for L. camara are projected to contract globally, despite expansions in some areas. The objective of this study was to test those predictions, using a pot experiment in which branch cuttings were grown at three different temperatures (22°C, 26°C and 30°C). We hypothesized that warming would facilitate the invasiveness of L. camara. In response to rising temperatures, the total biomass of L. camara did increase. Plants allocated more biomass to stems and enlarged their leaves more at 26°C and 30°C, which promoted light capture and assimilation. They did not appear to be stressed by higher temperatures, in fact photosynthesis and assimilation were enhanced. Using lettuce (Lactuca sativa) as a receptor plant in a bioassay experiment, we also tested the phytotoxicity of L. camara leachate at different temperatures. All aqueous extracts from fresh leaves significantly inhibited the germination and seedling growth of lettuce, and the allelopathic effects became stronger with increasing temperature. Our results provide key evidence that elevated temperature led to significant increases in growth along with physiological and allelopathic effects, which together indicate that global warming facilitates the invasion of L. camara.
Highlights
Global average temperatures are increasing and are predicted to do so further in the future [1]
Any alterations of plant community structure that are caused by climate change result from underlying changes in the population dynamics of species that make up the community [10]
A number of recent studies on invasive plants and climate change have shown that increasing temperatures and changing precipitation might either ‘‘help’’ or ‘‘hinder’’ invasive plants, depending on the species, location and dominant forces causing changes in climate conditions [6,9,21,32]
Summary
Global average temperatures are increasing and are predicted to do so further in the future [1]. The successful invasion of new areas by non-native species can have serious ecological consequences for species interactions and ecosystem structure and functioning [5]. The abundance and distribution of plant species are tightly regulated by both climatic factors [7] and biotic interactions [8], so changes in climatic conditions are likely to cause major shifts in their population dynamics and geographic ranges [2,3,9]. Any alterations of plant community structure that are caused by climate change result from underlying changes in the population dynamics of species that make up the community [10]. Understanding responses to climate change at the species level is important to the prediction of future ecosystem functioning [10]
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