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Salt-tolerant native plants have greater responses to other environments when compared to salt-tolerant invasive plants.

ABSTRACT: The strong expansion potential of invasive plants is often attributed to fast adaptive responses to stress. However, the evolution of tolerance to one stressor may affect the responses to other stressors. Currently, it remains unclear what effect the evolution to one stressor might have on the responses to other single or combined stressors. Moreover, it is unknown how this might differ between invasive and native species.Invasive plants (Mikania micrantha and Bidens pilosa) and native plants (Merremia hederacea and Sida acuta) from low- and high-salinity habitats were grown under control and stressful conditions [salt stress, water stress (drought/waterlogging), and their combinations]. We explored the effects of evolved salt tolerance on the responses to water stress/combined stresses and the underlying trait mechanisms.The high-salinity populations of all species exhibited stronger salt tolerance than the low-salinity populations. As to the tolerance to other stressors, the high-salinity and low-salinity populations of the invasive species were similar, whereas the high-salinity populations of the native species exhibited stronger tolerance than the low-salinity populations under most stress treatments. However, the enhanced salt tolerance in native species was accompanied by reduced total biomass under control condition. The stress tolerance of native species correlated with leaf production rate and allocation to root, while the performance of native species under control condition correlated with leaf morphology and carbon assimilation rate. This suggests a trade-off between salt tolerance and performance in the native but not the invasive species, probably resulting from altered phenotypic/physiological traits. Synthesis:Our work suggests that the evolution of tolerance to one stressor may have stronger effects on the tolerance to other stressors of the native compared with the invasive species. This may be a new paradigm to explain the greater advantage of invasive vs. native species in highly stressful habitats.

SUBMITTER: Liu M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6635938 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Salt-tolerant native plants have greater responses to other environments when compared to salt-tolerant invasive plants.

Liu Muxin M Liao Huixuan H Peng Shaolin S

Ecology and evolution 20190619 13

The strong expansion potential of invasive plants is often attributed to fast adaptive responses to stress. However, the evolution of tolerance to one stressor may affect the responses to other stressors. Currently, it remains unclear what effect the evolution to one stressor might have on the responses to other single or combined stressors. Moreover, it is unknown how this might differ between invasive and native species.Invasive plants (<i>Mikania micrantha</i> and <i>Bidens pilosa</i>) and na ...[more]

PMID: 31346442

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Project description:Dittrichia viscosa is a Mediterranean ruderal species that over the last decades has expanded into new habitats, including coastal salt marshes, ecosystems that are per se fragile and threatened by human activities. To assess the potential risk that this native-invasive species represents for the genuine salt marsh vegetation, we compared its distribution with that of Inula crithmoides, a taxonomically related halophyte, in three salt marshes located in "La Albufera" Natural Park, near the city of Valencia (East Spain). The presence of D. viscosa was restricted to areas of low and moderate salinity, while I. crithmoides was also present in the most saline zones of the salt marshes. Analyses of the responses of the two species to salt and water stress treatments in controlled experiments revealed that both activate the same physiological stress tolerance mechanisms, based essentially on the transport of toxic ions to the leaves-where they are presumably compartmentalized in vacuoles-and the accumulation of specific osmolytes for osmotic adjustment. The two species differ in the efficiency of those mechanisms: salt-induced increases in Na(+) and Cl(-) contents were higher in I. crithmoides than in D. viscosa, and the osmolytes (especially glycine betaine, but also arabinose, fructose and glucose) accumulated at higher levels in the former species. This explains the (slightly) higher stress tolerance of I. crithmoides, as compared to D. viscosa, established from growth inhibition measurements and their distribution in nature. The possible activation of K(+) transport to the leaves under high salinity conditions may also contribute to salt tolerance in I. crithmoides. Oxidative stress level-estimated from malondialdehyde accumulation-was higher in the less tolerant D. viscosa, which consequently activated antioxidant responses as a defense mechanism against stress; these responses were weaker or absent in the more tolerant I. crithmoides. Based on these results, we concluded that although D. viscosa cannot directly compete with true halophytes in highly saline environments, it is nevertheless quite stress tolerant and therefore represents a threat for the vegetation located on the salt marshes borders, where several endemic and threatened species are found in the area of study.

Project description:Although many studies have documented the effects of global warming on invasive plants, little is known about whether the effects of warming on plant invasion differ depending on the imposed change in different diurnal temperature ranges (DTR). We tested the impact of warming with DTR change on seed germination and seedling growth of eight species in the family Asteraceae. Four of these are invasive (Eupatorium catarium, Mikania micrantha, Biodens pilosa var. radiate, Ageratum conyzoides) in China, and four are native (Sonchus arvensis, Senecios candens, Pterocypsela indica, Eupatorium fortunei). Four temperature treatments were set in growth chambers (three warming by 3 °C with different DTRs and control), and experiments were run to mimic wintertime and summertime conditions. The control treatment (Tc ) was set to the mean temperature for the corresponding time of year, and the three warming treatments were symmetric (i.e. equal night-and-day) (DTRsym), asymmetric warming with increased (DTRinc) and decreased (DTRdec) DTR. The warming treatments did not affect seed germination of invasive species under any of the conditions, but DTRsym and DTRinc increased seed germination of natives relative to the control, suggesting that warming may not increase success of these invasive plant species via effects on seed germination of invasive plants relative to native plants. The invasive plants had higher biomass and greater stem allocation than the native ones under all of the warming treatments. Wintertime warming increased the biomass of the invasive and wintertime DTRsym and DTRinc increased that of the native plants, whereas summertime asymmetric warming decreased the biomass of the invasives but not the natives. Therefore, warming may not facilitate invasion of these invasive species due to the suppressive effects of summertime warming (particularly the asymmetric warming) on growth. Compared with DTRsym, DTRdec decreased the biomass of both the invasive and native plants, while the asymmetric summer warming treatments (DTRinc and DTRdec) decreased the biomass of the invasive but not the native plants. In addition, wintertime DTRinc did not enhance the biomass of all the plants relative to DTRsym. Our results were obtained in an unrealistic setting; the growth conditions in chambers (e.g. low light, low herbivory, no competition) are quite different from natural conditions (high light, normal herbivory and competition), which may influence the effects of warming on the seedling establishment and growth of both invasive and native plants. Nonetheless, our work highlights the importance of asymmetric warming, particularly in regards to the comparison with the effects of symmetric warming on both invasive and native plants. Conclusions regarding the effects of future warming should be made cautiously because warming with different DTRs may suggest different implications for invasion, and effects of warming may be different in different seasons.

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Salt-tolerant native plants have greater responses to other environments when compared to salt-tolerant invasive plants.

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Salt-tolerant native plants have greater responses to other environments when compared to salt-tolerant invasive plants.

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