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Functional traits indicate faster resource acquisition for alien herbs than native shrubs in an urban Mediterranean shrubland
- Source :
- Biological Invasions. 22:2699-2712
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020.
-
Abstract
- In urban Mediterranean ecosystems, invasive alien plants should have characteristics that enable faster resource acquisition and utilization than native species. We tested this hypothesis by comparing stem and leaf functional traits from five abundant native woody shrubs and five of the most abundant alien species within an urban coastal scrub community in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. Twelve anatomical and ecophysiological traits were studied: light-saturated CO2 assimilation rate, stomatal conductance, stem and leaf water potentials during transpiration, % stem allocation to bark, xylem and pith, stem xylem vessel diameter and density, leaf size, and % allocation to spongy and palisade mesophyll. Alien species varied more in these traits, and their trait combinations reflected less investment in long-lived tissues; they had higher CO2 assimilation and stomatal conductance rates, higher values of leaf and stem water potential, and higher allocation to pith, larger stem xylem vessels, and larger leaf areas. In contrast, native woody shrub species were relatively convergent in leaf and stem traits reflecting more conservative resource use. Within disturbed urban environments, alien species may outcompete the native stress-tolerant species through rapid resource acquisition, enhanced by a broader set of functional trait combinations across species.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
geography
Stomatal conductance
geography.geographical_feature_category
Ecology
ved/biology
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
fungi
ved/biology.organism_classification_rank.species
food and beverages
Xylem
Introduced species
Biology
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Shrub
Shrubland
Botany
Pith
Leaf size
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Transpiration
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15731464 and 13873547
- Volume :
- 22
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Biological Invasions
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........d1b75c1c5a9527da23304a40b8a974af