Adaptability to local climate helps invasive species thrive

Sophie Antonioli
Mr. Mathieu
10/20/13

Published: October 17, 2013
URL: http://phys.org/news/2013-10-local-climate-invasive-species.html

Summary:
The University of Toronto has recently done an experiment about purple loosestrife. This invasive species has been evolving at an accelerated pace. As it spread to the colder climate of Northern Ontario, it has produced 30 times more seeds and flowers 3 weeks earlier than it regularly does. In the experiment, the university took 3 different samples of purple loosestrife from 3 different locations, northern, central, and south latitudes in eastern North America. They then planted them at places spanning their distribution and observed differences and similarities in their survival strategies, reproductive rates, and overall fitness. The results were that the plants closest to the 'home' always exceded the others in all the categories. This proved the point that the evolution of purple loosestrife is happening because of the climates they live in. Dr. Rob Colautti claims this is important because "Understanding that species can evolve rapidly to local climates is important for predicting how invasive species spread and how native and non-native species alike will respond to climate change."

Connection:
This connects to what we have learned this term because it talks about invasive species. In the ecology unit, we mostly focused on the competition of invasive species while in this article the evolution of invasive species is discusses. Never the less, both are related to the relationships invasive species have to their surroundings. Also, purple loosestrife was commonly our example or the invasive species we focused on specifically, just like in the article.