Hastings Natural History Reservation

08 Nov, 04 AM - 08 Nov, 09 AM

Project description: Invasive species undergoing rapid range expansions experience a variety of novel environments. Successful establishment in a novel range is likely to be facilitated by some combination of genetic variation among lineages within a population and phenotypic plasticity. This research is focused on understanding the relative importance of quantitative genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity in determining the relative success of populations of an invasive annual plant species, Erodium cicutarium, undergoing a recent range expansion in California and Chile. This research utilizes field surveys, greenhouse experiments, and Bayesian modeling techniques to address several questions including: 1) How does trait expression respond via phenotypic plasticity to environmental variation?, 2) Do genotypes from habitats with greater environmental heterogeneity express greater plasticity than genotypes from relatively homogeneous environments?, and 3) Do the roles of genetic and plastic variation in trait values in determining the relative success of a population differ between invasion fronts in Chile and California? This research provides novel insight into the role of phenotypic plasticity and quantitative genetic variation in determining the relative success of populations in the process of rapid range expansion in replicate invasion fronts. Although the spatial scale of environmental heterogeneity has long been hypothesized to play an important role in determining patterns of selection on the expression of phenotypic plasticity no comprehensive tests exist. Previous studies examining the importance of genetic variation or phenotypic plasticity in the range expansions of invasive species have lacked comprehensive analyses of plasticity in response to environmental variation similar to that experienced in natural habitats. This research provides the first comprehensive analysis to date.

Visit #19679 @Hastings Natural History Reservation

Approved

Under Project # 20804 | Research

Understanding the role of plasticity and genetic variation in parallel invasion fronts: Study of the range expansion of Erodium cicutarium in Chile and California.

research_scientist - University of California, Davis

Reservation Members(s)

Brooke Baythavong Nov 8, 2009 (1 days)
Brooke Baythavong Nov 8, 2009 (1 days)

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Day Use Only 2 Nov 8 (5 hours)