SGER: Rapid evolution of invasive species to elevated atmospheric CO2

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At several Free-air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) Facility sites, the Department of Energy has provided infrastructure to control atmospheric conditions for scientific experiments. These experiments present a unique opportunity to study rapid evolution in response to elevated CO2. The capacity of invasive species to rapidly evolve is still unknown. Planned closure of several FACE sites will reduce this opportunity to study rapid evolution in weeds unless seeds are collected within the next year. Seeds of weed species from FACE sites (ranging from desert to deciduous forest) will be collected this summer and next spring. These collections will be used to examine the potential for rapid evolution of ecological and physiological traits by weeds under global change.Two major threats to biological diversity and productivity within the U.S. in the next century are invasive species and global climate change. To understand interactive impacts of these two threats, it is necessary to understand how global climate change influences the capacity of invasive species to evolve, adapt, and spread. Unfortunately, rapid evolutionary responses of weeds to global change have largely been ignored. This research provides the opportunity to examine whether weeds evolve in the face of global change and will inform the sustainable management of invasive species under rapid climate change.