Evolution of physiological performance in invasive plants under climate change

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Plant Physiology

Background:

• Climate change is predicted to increase biological invasions globally.
• Invasive species can evolve, but their evolutionary potential compared to native species under climate change remains understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the evolutionary potential of physiological performance in invasive and native species under simulated climate change conditions.
• To evaluate if invasive species exhibit greater adaptive evolution in photosynthetic rates than their native counterparts.

Main Methods:

• Experimental evolution trials were conducted over three generations.
• Four experimental environments simulated typical and climate change conditions (temperature and water availability) for Arid, Alpine, Antarctic, and Mediterranean ecosystems.
• Light-saturated photosynthetic rate (Amax) was measured to assess physiological performance evolution.

Main Results:

• Photosynthetic rate (Amax) generally increased across generations for most species.
• Invasive species from Arid and Mediterranean ecosystems showed greater Amax evolution than native/naturalized counterparts.
• Invasive species from Alpine and Antarctic ecosystems showed similar and lesser Amax evolution, respectively, compared to native counterparts.
• Similar evolutionary patterns were observed across all experimental environments, indicating consistent responses to climate change scenarios.

Conclusions:

• Invasive and native plants exhibit comparable evolutionary responses in physiological performance to global warming and drought.
• The study suggests that invasive species do not universally possess greater evolutionary potential than native species under climate change.
• A positive association between photosynthetic rate and reproductive output was observed across all species studied.