DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Mechanisms for Successful Invasions: Yellow Starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) in California, Central Argentina, and Turkey

论文研究：成功入侵的机制：加利福尼亚州、阿根廷中部和土耳其的黄星蓟（Centaurea solstitialis）

• 批准号: 0309181
• 负责人: Ragan Callaway
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of Montana
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-06-15 至 2005-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0309181&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Mechanisms; Successful; Invasions

Many plant species are not common in their native communities but reach extraordinary levels of abundance when people transport them to new parts of the world. This phenomenon has puzzled ecologists for decades. Yellow starthistle, an annual herb native to Eurasia, has invaded grasslands worldwide, but varies in invasive success. In California, yellow starthistle is one of the most devastating invaders of annual grasslands. In central Argentina, it can also create monocultures; however, in contrast to California, its dominance is short lived and requires continued disturbance. The goal of this research is to gain insight into why the same invader exhibits contrasting levels of success in different recipient communities. This objective will be addressed by replicating experiments in California, central Argentina, and in the homeland of the invader, southern Turkey. These experiments will assess the role of climate, local plant communities, and invader genotypes in this biogeographical pattern. Proposed comparative activities in such a global context represent a novel approach to the study of introduced plants and have the potential to shed light on one of the most difficult problems in ecology -the mechanisms driving successful plant invasions. Our ability to ameliorate the enormous environmental and economic harms caused by invasive plants largely depends on understanding how these mechanisms work.

许多植物物种在它们的原生群落中并不常见，但当人们将它们运送到世界上的新地方时，它们的数量达到了异常丰富的水平。这一现象几十年来一直困扰着生态学家。黄蓟是一种原产于欧亚大陆的一年生草本植物，已经入侵了世界各地的草原，但入侵成功的程度各不相同。在加利福尼亚州，黄蓟是对一年一度草原最具破坏性的入侵者之一。在阿根廷中部，它也可以创造单一文化；然而，与加州不同的是，它的主导地位是短暂的，需要持续的干扰。这项研究的目的是深入了解为什么同一入侵者在不同的接受者社区表现出不同的成功水平。这一目标将通过在加利福尼亚州、阿根廷中部和入侵者的故乡土耳其南部进行重复实验来实现。这些实验将评估气候、当地植物群落和入侵基因在这种生物地理格局中的作用。在这样的全球背景下提出的比较活动代表了一种研究引进植物的新方法，并有可能揭示生态学中最困难的问题之一--驱动植物成功入侵的机制。我们改善入侵植物造成的巨大环境和经济损害的能力在很大程度上取决于对这些机制如何工作的理解。