Journal
OECOLOGIA
Volume 175, Issue 1, Pages 129-138Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00442-013-2876-4
Keywords
Biotic resistance; Ecosystem service; Invasion; Cirsium vulgare; Bull thistle
Categories
Funding
- UNL fellowships
- Life Sciences Interdisciplinary Graduate Program Fellowships
- Arthur William Sampson Fellowship
- Graduate Studies Fellowships
- UNL from School of Biological Sciences Special Funds, Initiative for Evolutionary and Ecological Analysis, and Center for Great Plains Studies
- NSF-DEB [0532018]
- USDA [NRI-2005-35320-12 15379]
- Nebraska Chapter's J.E. Weaver Competitive Grants Program
- Division Of Environmental Biology
- Direct For Biological Sciences [0532018] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The influence of native fauna on non-native plant population growth, size, and distribution is not well documented. Previous studies have shown that native insects associated with tall thistle (Cirsium altissimum) also feed on the leaves, stems, and flower heads of the Eurasian congener C. vulgare, thus limiting individual plant performance. In this study, we tested the effects of insect herbivores on the population growth rate of C. vulgare. We experimentally initiated invasions by adding seeds at four unoccupied grassland sites in eastern Nebraska, USA, and recorded plant establishment, survival, and reproduction. Cumulative foliage and floral herbivory reduced C. vulgare seedling density, and prevented almost any reproduction by C. vulgare in half the sites. The matrix model we constructed showed that this herbivory resulted in a reduction of the asymptotic population growth rate (lambda), from an 88 % annual increase to a 54 % annual decline. These results provide strong support for the hypothesis that indigenous herbivores limit population invasion of this non-native plant species into otherwise suitable grassland habitat.
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