Abstract
Paterson’s curse (Echium plantagineum L. (Boraginaceae)), is an herbaceous annual native to Western Europe and northwest Africa. It has been recorded in Australia since the 1800’s and is now a major weed in pastures and rangelands, but its introduction history is poorly understood. An understanding of its invasion pathway and subsequent genetic structure is critical to the successful introduction of biological control agents and for provision of informed decisions for plant biosecurity efforts. We sampled E. plantagineum in its native (Iberian Peninsula), non-native (UK) and invaded ranges (Australia and South Africa) and analysed three chloroplast gene regions. Considerable genetic diversity was found among E. plantagineum in Australia, suggesting a complex introduction history. Fourteen haplotypes were identified globally, 10 of which were co-present in Australia and South Africa, indicating South Africa as an important source population, likely through contamination of traded goods or livestock. Haplotype 4 was most abundant in Australia (43%), and in historical and contemporary UK populations (80%), but scarce elsewhere (< 17%), suggesting that ornamental and/or other introductions from genetically impoverished UK sources were also important. Collectively, genetic evidence and historical records indicate E. plantagineum in southern Australia exists as an admixture that is likely derived from introduced source populations in both the UK and South Africa.
Highlights
Invasive species can be defined as those that are distributed beyond their native ranges and pose a significant negative impact on indigenous ecosystems, public health or agricultural production [1, 2]
14 haplotypes were revealed following concatenation of the chloroplast regions, with 8, 12, 12 and 4 haplotypes observed in the Iberian Peninsula, Australia, South Africa and UK, respectively (S3 Table)
Our findings demonstrate the important role of both UK and South African populations in shaping the genetic structure of the invasive weed species E. plantagineum, or Paterson’s curse, in Australia
Summary
Invasive species can be defined as those that are distributed beyond their native ranges and pose a significant negative impact on indigenous ecosystems, public health or agricultural production [1, 2]. Invasion success is influenced by the number of introduction events, post-introduction distribution vectors and associated impacts of introduced populations on indigenous ecosystems [1, 2]. Invasion history reconstruction is critical for developing biological control approaches, prediction of future introductions and determination of both economic and ecological impacts of invasive species [2, 6]. In most cases, this is not possible due to the antiquity of key events and the limited availability of biological records, such as herbarium specimens. This is especially true of invasions associated with accidental introduction [7]. Indirect methods evaluating population genetic structure provide an alternative means of reconstructing introduction histories [10,11,12,13]
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