RT Journal Article
T1 Division of Labor Brings Greater Benefits to Clones of Carpobrotus edulis in the Non-native Range: Evidence for Rapid Adaptive Evolution
A1 Roiloa, Sergio R.
A1 Retuerto Franco, José Carlos Rubén
A1 González Campoy, Josefina
A1 Novoa, Ana
A1 Barreiro, Rodolfo
K1 Biological invasions
K1 Biomass allocation
K1 Carpobrotus edulis
K1 Chlorophyll fluorescence
K1 Clonal integration
K1 Division of labor
K1 Local adaptation
K1 Spectral reflectance
AB Why some species become invasive while others do not is a central research request inbiological invasions. Clonality has been suggested as an attribute that could contributeto plant invasiveness. Division of labor is an important advantage of clonal growth,and it seems reasonable to anticipate that clonal plants may intensify this clonalattribute in an invaded range because of positive selection on beneficial traits. To testthis hypothesis, we collected clones of Carpobrotus edulis from native and invasivepopulations, grew pairs of connected and severed ramets in a common garden andunder negative spatial covariance of nutrients and light to induce division of labor,and measured biomass allocation ratios, final biomass, and photochemical efficiency.Our results showed that both clones from the native and invaded range develop adivision of labor at morphological and physiological level. However, the benefit fromthe division of labor was significantly higher in apical ramets from the invaded rangethan in ramets from the native area. This is a novel and outstanding result because itprovides the first evidence that the benefit of a key clonal trait such as division of labormay have been subjected to evolutionary adaptation in the invaded range. The divisionof labor can therefore be considered an important trait in the invasiveness of C. edulis.An appropriate assessment of the influence of clonal traits in plant invasions seemskey for understanding the underlying mechanisms behind biological invasions of newenvironments.
PB Frontiers Media
YR 2016
FD 2016
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/22375
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/22375
LA eng
NO Roiloa, S. R., Retuerto, R., Campoy, J. G., Novoa, A., & Barreiro, R. (2016). Division of labor brings greater benefits to clones of Carpobrotus edulis in the non-native range: evidence for rapid adaptive evolution. Frontiers in plant science, 7, 349.
NO Financial support for this study was provided by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (projects Ref. CGL2013-44519-R, awarded to SRR and Ref. CGL2013-48885-C2-2-R, awarded to RR). European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) co-financed these projects. This is a contribution from the Alien Species Network (Ref. R2014/036 – Xunta de Galicia, Autonomous Government of Galicia)
DS Minerva
RD 4 may 2026