Biogeographical Patterns, Ecological Drivers, and Evolutionary Mechanisms of Plant Invasions
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2014 Biogeographical patterns, ecological drivers, and evolutionary mechanisms of plant invasions Rafael Dudeque Zenni University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Evolution Commons, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Other Genetics and Genomics Commons, and the Population Biology Commons Recommended Citation Dudeque Zenni, Rafael, "Biogeographical patterns, ecological drivers, and evolutionary mechanisms of plant invasions. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2014. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/2817 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Rafael Dudeque Zenni entitled "Biogeographical patterns, ecological drivers, and evolutionary mechanisms of plant invasions." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Daniel Simberloff, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Aimée Classen, Benjamin Fitzpatrick, Joseph Bailey, David Buckley Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Biogeographical patterns, ecological drivers, and evolutionary mechanisms of plant invasions A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Rafael Dudeque Zenni August 2014 DEDICATION To Juliana, Manoela, and Lucas ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe many, many thanks to the following people and institutions for their support, assistance, and contributions to my dissertation. Dr. Daniel Simberloff, my major professor, sharing his vast expertise and knowledge. I will be forever grateful to Dan for providing to me the opportunity to pursue my own research under his guidance. Drs. Joe Bailey and Jen Schweitzer for keeping their office doors open to me. Their expertise broadened the scope of my research. Their mentorship guided me in becoming a better scientist. Drs. Aimée Classen, Ben Fitzpatrick, and David Buckley, my committee members, and Drs. Jim Fordyce and Joe Williams for their assistance and guidance. Drs. Sara Kuebbing, Noelia Barrios-Garcia, and soon-to-be Drs. Jessica Welch and Daniela Rivarola for being over-the-top amazing lab mates, colleagues, and friends. Thank you for stimulating conversations. Dr. Martin A. Nuñez for being a fantastic colleague and friend, and for sharing his expertise and knowledge. Dr. Mariano Rodriguez-Cabal, Dr. Lara Souza, Dr. Katie Stuble, Rachel Wooliver, Ian Ware, Liam Mueller, Mark Genung, Cassandra Ott, Walt Andrews, Lacy Chick, Dr. Romina Dimarco, Jeremiah Henning, Gwen Iacona, Jessica Moore, Courtney Gorman, Alix Pfennigwerth, and Lauren Breza for enriching my graduate experience through great conversations and constructive criticisms of papers, talks, and ideas. Michael Van Nuland for the always challenging and intense scientific discussions during the always superb climbing sections in- and outdoors. Keep climbing! Dr. Gary McCracken and Veronica Brown for allowing me to work in their lab and for sharing their expertise. CNPq-Brazil for four years of funding. My family for the continuous support. iii ABSTRACT Understanding and predicting organisms’ responses to novel environments is a key issue for global change biology. In this dissertation, I study biogeographical patterns of plant invasions in Brazil, explore some of their ecological drivers, and disentangle the gene-level mechanisms that cause introduced organisms to become successful or failed invaders. I found that, for the invasive flora of Brazil, species were not introduced to new regions at random and that a species’ reason for introduction and continent of origin were associated. Asian ornamental and African forage plants are overrepresented, and two families (Poaceae and Fabaceae) dominate the invasive flora of Brazil. To address the reason for the observed patterns, I studied 18 Pinus species introduced to Brazil. I found that biotic resistance reduced the rate of spread, but did not prevent invasions from happening. Also, mean values of species traits did not explain which species would have become naturalized or invasive. The number of source populations introduced for each species was the factor that best explained the observed pattern of invasion. These findings indicate that forests might not resist invasion by Pinus and support the hypothesis that propagule pressure is a driver of invasions with propagule diversity being a component of this mechanism. Next, I surveyed the ecological literature to explore reasons why invasive species are not always invasive. I found intraspecific variation in invasion success and explanations for this variation: low propagule pressure, abiotic resistance, biotic resistance, genetic constraints, and mutualist release. Finally, to understand mechanisms leading to variation in invasion success, I analyzed the spread of Pinus taeda in six forestry provenance trials. I found that range expansions of introduced P. taeda resulted from an interaction between genetic provenance and climate and that temperature and precipitation predict the invasive performance of particular provenances. Further, I found genotypes can occupy climate niche spaces different from those observed in their native ranges. Overall, my work demonstrates genotypes respond to climate in distinct ways, and these interactions affect the ability of populations to expand their ranges. The introduction of adapted genotypes is a key driver of naturalization of populations of introduced species. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1 Dissertation outline .................................................................................................................................. 3 References ................................................................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER I Analysis of introduction history of invasive plants in Brazil reveals patterns of association Between Biogeographical origin and reason for introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 8 Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 10 Methods ..................................................................................................................................................... 12 Dataset compilation ................................................................................................................................................. 12 Statistical analysis .................................................................................................................................................... 12 Results ........................................................................................................................................................ 13 Discussion ................................................................................................................................................. 14 References ................................................................................................................................................ 19 Appendix I: Figures ................................................................................................................................ 23 CHAPTER II NumBer of source populations as a potential driver of pine invasions in Brazil ............................................................................................................................................ 29 Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................... 30 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 31 Methods ..................................................................................................................................................... 33 Study site ..................................................................................................................................................................... 33 Patterns of pine invasion ........................................................................................................................................ 35 Habitats