Université de Fribourg

Rapid evolution of invasive traits facilitates the invasion of common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia

Sun, Yan ; Roderick, George K.

In: Journal of Ecology, 2019, vol. 107, no. 6, p. 2673–2687

Invasive alien plants, together with organisms introduced for biological control, are ideal study systems with which to address questions of whether, and how fast, organisms adapt to changing environments. We compared populations of common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, from native (USA) and introduced (China) ranges at similar latitudes, together with herbivores introduced for biological...

Université de Fribourg

Climatic suitability ranking of biological control candidates: a biogeographic approach for ragweed management in Europe

Sun, Yan ; Brönnimann, Olivier ; Roderick, George K. ; Poltavsky, Alexander ; Lommen, Suzanne T. E. ; Müller-Schärer, Heinz

In: Ecosphere, 2017, vol. 8, no. 4, p. -

Biological control using natural antagonists has been a most successful management tool against alien invasive plants that threaten biodiversity. The selection of candidate agents remains a critical step in a biocontrol program before more elaborate and time- consuming experiments are conducted. Here, we propose a biogeographic approach to identify candidates and combinations of candidates to...