Do Higher Resource Capture Ability and Utilization Efficiency Facilitate the Successful Invasion of Exotic Plant? A Case Study of Alternanthera philoxeroides

Xuyan Geng, Shang Jiang, Bo Li, Xiaoyun Pan

Coastal Ecosystems Research Station of Yangtze River Estuary, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science & Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Shanghai, China..

DOI: 10.4236/ajps.2013.49226                

Abstract

We tested the hypothesis that introduced populations may have higher resource capture ability and utilization efficiency than native ones of invasive plants. We compared ecophysiological traits including maximum photosynthetic rate (P_max), apparent quantum yield (Q), specific leaf area (SLA), photosynthetic energy use efficiency (PEUE), photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE), water use efficiency (WUE), mass-based and area-based leaf construction cost (CC_mass and CC_area), and mass-based and area-based leaf nitrogen concentration (N_mass and N_area) between native (Argentina) and introduced (USA) populations of two varieties (North Apa and South Apo) of Alternanthera philoxeroides under common garden conditions in China. For Apo and Apa, P_max, Q, N_mass and WUE were not significantly different between native and introduced populations; introduced populations had significantly lower SLA and lower CC_mass but significantly higher N_area and CC_area than native ones. For Apa, the introduced populations showed significantly lower PEUE and lower PNUE while for Apo, PEUE and PNUE were not significantly different between native and introduced populations. The results indicated that introduced populations of A. philoxeroides do not show higher resource capture ability and resource utilization efficiency than their native ones in the common garden experiment, suggesting that these traits may not necessarily contribute to successful invasion of invasive plants.

Keywords

Invasive Plant; Resource Use Efficiency; Construction Cost; Leaf Nitrogen

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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