RAPID EVOLUTION OF AN INVASIVE PLANT

Exotic plants often face different conditions from those experienced where they are native. The general issue of how exotics respond to unfamiliar environments within their new range is not well understood. Phenotypic plasticity has historically been seen as the primary mechanism enabling exotics to colonize large, environmentally diverse areas. However, new work indicates that exotics can evolve quickly, suggesting that contemporary evolution may be more important in invasion ecology than previously appreciated. To determine the influence of contemporary evolution, phenotypic plasticity, and founder effects in affecting phenotypic variation among introduced plants, we compared the size, fecundity, and leaf…

• SL
  Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet
• UD
  Universitat de Barcelona
• NI
  National Institutes of Health