Aims biological invasions represent one of the most important threats to the conservation of biodiversity;however,the mechanisms underlying successful invaders remain unsolved.many of the most aggres-sive invaders sho...Aims biological invasions represent one of the most important threats to the conservation of biodiversity;however,the mechanisms underlying successful invaders remain unsolved.many of the most aggres-sive invaders show clonal growth,and capacity for clonal integration has been pointed out recently as an important trait explaining the success of invasive plants.We aim to determine the role of physi-ological integration in the capacity for self/non-self genotype recog-nition in the clonal invader Carpobrotus edulis and the implications of this capacity for the expansion of this aggressive invader.Methods We used connected and severed ramets of identical or different gen-otype and we determined the capacity for self/non-self recognition by comparing changes in biomass partitioning to avoid competition for resources between pairs of ramets.Important Findings Physiological integration allowed self/non-self genotype recogni-tion in the invader C.edulis.results showed a significant effect of physiological integration on the biomass allocated to roots by genetically identical ramets:older ramets specialize in acqui-sition of soil-based resources and younger ramets specialize in lateral expansion.this specialization could be considered a form of division of labour,which reduce intra-genotype competition.this is the first evidence that division of labour could be inter-preted as a form of self/non-self recognition between genetically identical ramets.Capacity for self/non-self discrimination could contribute to increase the colonization capacity of the aggressive invader C.edulis.this is the first study showing an association between self/non-self recognition and invasiveness in a clonal plant.展开更多
文摘Aims biological invasions represent one of the most important threats to the conservation of biodiversity;however,the mechanisms underlying successful invaders remain unsolved.many of the most aggres-sive invaders show clonal growth,and capacity for clonal integration has been pointed out recently as an important trait explaining the success of invasive plants.We aim to determine the role of physi-ological integration in the capacity for self/non-self genotype recog-nition in the clonal invader Carpobrotus edulis and the implications of this capacity for the expansion of this aggressive invader.Methods We used connected and severed ramets of identical or different gen-otype and we determined the capacity for self/non-self recognition by comparing changes in biomass partitioning to avoid competition for resources between pairs of ramets.Important Findings Physiological integration allowed self/non-self genotype recogni-tion in the invader C.edulis.results showed a significant effect of physiological integration on the biomass allocated to roots by genetically identical ramets:older ramets specialize in acqui-sition of soil-based resources and younger ramets specialize in lateral expansion.this specialization could be considered a form of division of labour,which reduce intra-genotype competition.this is the first evidence that division of labour could be inter-preted as a form of self/non-self recognition between genetically identical ramets.Capacity for self/non-self discrimination could contribute to increase the colonization capacity of the aggressive invader C.edulis.this is the first study showing an association between self/non-self recognition and invasiveness in a clonal plant.
