Université de Fribourg

Contrasting spatio-temporal climatic niche dynamics during the eastern and western invasions of spotted knapweed in North America

Broennimann, Olivier ; Mráz, Patrik ; Petitpierre, Blaise ; Guisan, Antoine ; Müller-Schärer, Heinz

In: Journal of Biogeography, 2013///n/a–n/a

Aim: The spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe), a plant native to south-east and central Europe, is highly invasive in North America. We investigated the spatio-temporal climatic niche dynamics of the spotted knapweed in North America along two putative eastern and western invasion routes. We then considered the patterns observed in the light of historical, ecological and evolutionary...

Université de Fribourg

Effects of soil fungi, disturbance and propagule pressure on exotic plant recruitment and establishment at home and abroad

Maron, John L. ; Waller, Lauren P. ; Hahn, Min A. ; Diaconu, Alecu ; Pal, Robert W. ; Müller-Schärer, Heinz ; Klironomos, John N. ; Callaway, Ragan M.

In: Journal of Ecology, 2013, p. -

Biogeographic experiments that test how multiple interacting factors influence exotic plant abundance in their home and recipient communities are remarkably rare. We examined the effects of soil fungi, disturbance and propagule pressure on seed germination, seedling recruitment and adult plant establishment of the invasive Centaurea stoebe in its native European and non-native North American...

Université de Fribourg

Cytotype differences modulate eco-geographical differentiation in the widespread plant Centaurea stoebe

Hahn, Min A. ; Müller-Schärer, Heinz

In: Ecology, 2013, vol. 94, no. 5, p. 1005–1014

The evolution of optimal life history strategies is central for the fitness of organisms in a given environment. Besides divergent selection, other factors may determine regional patterns of differentiation and contribute to life history evolution. In a common-garden environment over three years, we examined life history differentiation across different eco-geographical regions and effects of a...

Université de Fribourg

Polyploidy and invasion success: trait trade-offs in native and introduced cytotypes of two Asteraceae species

Thébault, Aurélie ; Gillet, François ; Müller-Schärer, Heinz ; Buttler, Alexandre

In: Plant Ecology, 2010, vol. 212, no. 2, p. 315-325

Invasion success is favoured by the introduction of pre-adapted genotypes. In addition, novel pressures in the introduced range may lead to phenotypic changes related to fitness or competitive ability of introduced plants. Polyploidy appears to be over-represented in invasive plants, but differences between cytotypes in growth strategies including trade-offs among plant traits have received...