Cage Matching: Head to Head Competition
Experiments of an Invasive Plant Species from
Different Regions as a Means to Test for
Differentiation
Lortie et al. 2009
Why are invasive successful?
Invasion Hypotheses
• EICA – evolution of increased competitive ability
• Disturbance regimes
Ecotypic differentiation
• How the population of a species adapts to a
particular set of environment conditions
Shade-tolerant plant
Full-sun plants
Objective
Compare inter vs. intra regional competitive ability
Methods
Results
Results
For mixed plots
For mixed plots
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Novelty
• Compares invasibility of the same species in two
different populations
• Focus on environmental drivers for plant invasion
• Couples biogeography with population ecology.
Future work?
Compare YST in the native range
Questions
• What is ecotypic differentiation?
• How does ecotypic differentiation relate to
competition?
• How was the Californian population more successful
than the Argentinean population?
• What are some ways to experimental measure the
response of competition in plants?