Herbaceous plant species invading natural areas tend to have stronger adaptive root foraging than other naturalized species.

Although plastic root-foraging responses are thought to be adaptive, as they may optimize nutrient capture of plants, this has rarely been tested. We investigated whether nutrient-foraging responses are adaptive, and whether they pre-adapt alien species to become natural-area invaders. We grew 12 pairs of congeneric species (i.

Invasive clonal plant species have a greater root-foraging plasticity than non-invasive ones.

Clonality is frequently positively correlated with plant invasiveness, but which aspects of clonality make some clonal species more invasive than others is not known. Due to their spreading growth form, clonal plants are likely to experience spatial heterogeneity in nutrient availability. Plasticity in allocation of biomass to clonal growth organs and roots may allow these plants to forage for high-nutrient patches.

United we stand, divided we fall: a meta-analysis of experiments on clonal integration and its relationship to invasiveness.

Many ecosystems are dominated by clonal plants. Among the most distinctive characteristics of clonal plants is their potential for clonal integration (i.e.

The effect of sheltered load on reproduction in Solanum carolinense, a species with variable self-incompatibility.

In previous studies, we have investigated the strength of self-incompatibility (SI) in Solanum carolinense, a highly successful weed with a fully functional SI system that inhabits early successional and other disturbed habitats. We have found that the SI response in S. carolinense is a plastic trait-its strength being affected by the age of the flowers, and the presence of developing fruits and that there are genetic differences among families in their self-fertility.

Inbreeding depression in Solanum carolinense (Solanaceae), a species with a plastic self-incompatibility response.

Background: Solanum carolinense (horsenettle) is a highly successful weed with a gametophytic self-incompatibility (SI) system. Previous studies reveal that the strength of SI in S. carolinense is a plastic trait, associated with particular S-alleles.