TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hirsch, Heidi
A1  - Wypior, Catherina
A1  - Wehrden, Henrik von
A1  - Wesche, Karsten
A1  - Renison, Daniel
A1  - Hensen, Isabell
T1  - Germination performance of native and non-native Ulmus pumila populations
T2  - NeoBiota
N2  - Germination is a crucial step for invasive plants to extend their distribution under different environmental conditions in a new range. Therefore, information on germination characteristics of invasive plant species provides invaluable knowledge about the factors which might contribute to the invasion success. Moreover, intra-specific comparisons under controlled conditions will show if different responses between non-native and native populations are caused by evolutionary changes or by phenotypic plasticity towards different environmental influences. This paper focuses on the germination of native and non-native Ulmus pumila populations. We expected that non-native populations would be characterized by their higher final germination percentage and enhanced germination rate, which might indicate an influence due to corresponding climatic conditions. Germination experiments with a moderate and a warm temperature treatment did not reveal significant differences in final germination percentage. However, seeds from the North American non-native range germinated significantly faster than native seeds (p < 0.001). Additionally, mean time to germination in both ranges was significantly negatively correlated with annual precipitation (p = 0.022). At the same time, this relationship is stronger in the native range whereas mean time to germination in nonnative populations seems to be less influenced by climatic conditions. Different germination responses of the North American populations could be caused by a fast evolutionary change mediating a higher tolerance to current climatic conditions in the non-native range. However, our findings could also be caused by artificial selection during the introduction process and extensive planting of U. pumila in its non-native range. Nevertheless, we assume that the faster germination rate of non-native populations is one potential explanation for the invasion success of U. pumila in its new range since it might provide a competitive advantage during colonization of new sites.
KW  - Climatic influence
KW  - survival analysis
KW  - biological invasions
KW  - Ulmus pumila
Y1  - 2012
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/32307
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-323071
SN  - 1314-2488
IS  - 15
SP  - 53
EP  - 68
ER  -