title: Non-native populations of an invasive tree outperform their native conspecifics.
abstract: Introduced plants often face new environmental conditions in their non-native ranges. To become invasive, they need to overcome several biotic and abiotic filters that may trigger adaptive changes in life-history traits, like post-germination processes. Such early life cycle traits may play a crucial role in the colonization and establishment success of invasive plants. As a previous study revealed that seeds of non-native populations of the woody Siberian elm, Ulmus pumila, germinated faster than those of native populations, we expected growth performance of seedlings to mirror this finding. Here, we conducted a common garden greenhouse experiment using different temperature and watering treatments to compare the biomass production of U. pumila seedlings derived from 7 native and 13 populations from two non-native ranges. Our results showed that under all treatments, non-native populations were characterized by higher biomass production and enhanced resource allocation to aboveground biomass compared to the native populations. The observed enhanced growth performance of non-native populations might be one of the contributing factors for the invasion success of U. pumila due to competitive advantages during the colonization of new sites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Zoology, Centre for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch University, Matieland, South Africa heidihirsch71@googlemail.com.|Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hirsch
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.|German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Isabell
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hensen
authors.affiliation: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.|Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Goerlitz, Am Museum 1, 02826 Goerlitz, Germany.
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wesche
authors.affiliation: Centro de Ecología y Recursos Naturales Renovables - Dr. Ricardo Luti (CERNAR - FCEFyN - UNC) and Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas (IIByT - CONICET - UNC), Av. Vélez Sarsfield 1611, Córdoba X5016GCA, Argentina.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Renison
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Catherina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wypior
authors.affiliation: Herbarium PRC & Department of Botany, Charles University in Prague, Benátská 2, 12801 Praha, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hartmann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology/Faculty of Sustainability, Centre of Methods, Leuphana University, Scharnhorststraße 1, 21335 Lueneburg, Germany.|Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, Savoyen Strasse 1, 1160 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: von Wehrden
keywords: Biomass; Ulmus pumila; genetic shift; greenhouse; post-germination traits; shoot-root ratio