Abstract
Abstract Background/Question/Methods Many factors have been found to be associated with the success of invasive species. Phenotypic plasticity, the ability of a plant genotype to respond to different environmental conditions by producing different phenotypes, is thought to play an important role plant invasions. In three major experiments, I tested the hypothesis that the invasive Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion) and its non-invasive congener T. laevigatum will exhibit different phenotypic plasticity in germination, growth, and reproduction. I also proposed that their responses to various environments could be used to assess the invasive behavior of a potential crop species: T. kok-saghyz. Results/Conclusions The results revealed complicated responses of the three species in various environments. The invasive T. officinale showed higher germination in high alternating temperature, and accumulated more biomass than the non-invasive T. laevigatum in favorable greenhouse conditions. Surprisingly, T. laevigatum germinated better than T. officinale in other stressful environments (dark, low water potential, long aging period), and also exhibited higher fecundity in favorable greenhouse conditions. In field experiments, however, the performance of T. officinale was overwhelmingly better than T. laevigatum, which suffered very high mortality and failed to survive for more than two growing seasons. These results suggest that T. officinale might benefit from its ability to grow, reproduce, and survive in various environments, while T. laevigatum relies on seed reproduction to maintain its population. With the exception of germination, the responses of T. kok-saghyz were more like T. officinale than T. laevigatum, which suggested that this species has some potential to behave as a weed.
Highlights
Invasive species might benefit from phenotypic plasticity in three ways: 1) Jack-of-all-trades: invasive and non-invasive species have similar fitness in favorable environments, but invasive species have higher fitness in stressful environments (Fig. 1a); 2) Master-of-some: invasive and non-invasive species have similar fitness in stressful environments, but invasive species have higher fitness in favorable environments (Fig. 1b); 3) Jack-and-Master: invasives have higher fitness in all environments, but the advantage is most obvious in favorable environments (Fig.1c)
A secondary objective was to assess the invasive potential of T. kok-saghyz (TKS) using comparison results from Taraxacum officinale (TOF) and T. laevigatum (TLA)
TOF and TLA seeds were collected from various locations in Columbus and Wooster, OH
Summary
Phenotypic plasticity – the ability of a plant genotype to respond to different environmental conditions by producing different phenotypes – is thought to play an important role in plant invasions. Invasive species might benefit from phenotypic plasticity in three ways: 1) Jack-of-all-trades: invasive and non-invasive species have similar fitness in favorable environments, but invasive species have higher fitness in stressful environments (Fig. 1a); 2) Master-of-some: invasive and non-invasive species have similar fitness in stressful environments, but invasive species have higher fitness in favorable environments (Fig. 1b); 3) Jack-and-Master: invasives have higher fitness in all environments, but the advantage is most obvious in favorable environments (Fig.1c)
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