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Australian Journal of Botany Australian Journal of Botany Society
Southern hemisphere botanical ecosystems
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Herbivory and the success of Ligustrum lucidum: evidence from a comparison between native and novel ranges

Lía Montti A C E , María Marta Ayup A , Roxana Aragón A , Weilong Qi B , Honghua Ruan B , Romina Fernández A , Sergio A. Casertano C and Xiaoming Zou B D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Instituto de Ecología Regional, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, CONICET, Casilla de Correo 34, (4107) Yerba Buena, Tucumán, Argentina.

B College of Biology and the Environment, Collaborative Innovation Center of Sustainable Forestry in Southern China of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China.

C Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico (CeIBA). Bertoni 85, Puerto Iguazú (3370), Misiones, Argentina.

D Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras, PO Box 21910, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931-1910, USA.

E Corresponding author. Email: liamontti@gmail.com

Australian Journal of Botany 64(3) 181-192 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT15232
Submitted: 17 October 2015  Accepted: 25 February 2016   Published: 5 April 2016

Abstract

Invasive plant species may benefit from a reduction in herbivory in their introduced range. The reduced herbivory may cause a reallocation of resources from defence to fitness. Here, we evaluated leaf herbivory of an invasive tree species (Ligustrum lucidum Aiton) in its native and novel ranges, and determined the potential changes in leaf traits that may be associated with the patterns of herbivory. We measured forest structure, damage by herbivores and leaf traits in novel and native ranges, and on the basis of the literature, we identified the common natural herbivores of L. lucidum. We also performed an experiment offering leaves from both ranges to a generalist herbivore (Spodoptera frugiperda). L. lucidum was more abundant and experienced significantly less foliar damage in the novel than in the native range, in spite of the occurrence of several natural herbivores. The reduced lignin content and lower lignin : N ratio in novel leaves, together with the higher herbivore preference for leaves of this origin in the laboratory experiment, indicated lower herbivore resistance in novel than in native populations. The reduced damage by herbivores is not the only factor explaining invasion success, but it may be an important cause that enhances the invasiveness of L. lucidum.

Additional keywords: biological invasion, invasive woody species, natural enemies release hypothesis, evolution of increased competitive ability hypothesis.


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