Explaining variability in the production of seed and allergenic pollen by invasive Ambrosia artemisiifolia across Europe

Lommen, Suzanne T. E.; Hallmann, Caspar A.; Jongejans, Eelke; Chauvel, Bruno; Leitsch-Vitalos, Melinda; Aleksanyan, Alla; Tóth, Peter; Preda, Cristina; Šćepanović, Maja; Onen, Huseyin; Tokarska-Guzik, Barbara; Anastasiu, Paulina; Dorner, Zita; Fenesi, Annamária; Karrer, Gerhard; Nagy, Katalin; Pinke, Gyula; Tiborcz, Viktor; Zagyvai, Gergely; Zalai, Mihály; Kazinczi, Gabriella; Leskovšek, Robert; Stešević, Danijela; Fried, Guillaume; Kalatozishvili, Levani; Lemke, Andreas; Müller-Schärer, Heinz

doi:10.1007/s10530-017-1640-9

Back

Journal article

+ 1 other files

Explaining variability in the production of seed and allergenic pollen by invasive Ambrosia artemisiifolia across Europe

Lommen, Suzanne T. E. Department Of Biology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Hallmann, Caspar A. Institute For Water And Wetland Research, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Jongejans, Eelke Institute For Water And Wetland Research, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Chauvel, Bruno Agroécologie, AgroSup Dijon, INRAUniv. Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
Leitsch-Vitalos, Melinda Institute of Botany, University Of Natural Resources And Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
Aleksanyan, Alla Department of Geobotany And Eco-Physiology, Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
Tóth, Peter Department of Plant Protection, Slovak University of Agriculture, Nitra, Slovakia
Preda, Cristina Agricultural Institute Of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Šćepanović, Maja Faculty of AgricultureUniversity Of Zagreb, Croatia
Onen, Huseyin Department of Plant Protection, Faculty Of Agriculture, Gaziosmanpasa University, Tokat, Turkey
Tokarska-Guzik, Barbara Department of Botany And Nature Protection, Faculty Of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland
Anastasiu, Paulina Department of Botany And Microbiology & Botanic Garden “D. Brandza”, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Dorner, Zita Plant Protection Institute, Szent István University, Gödöllő, Hungary
Fenesi, Annamária Hungarian Department of Biology And Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Karrer, Gerhard Institute of Botany, University Of Natural Resources And Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
Nagy, Katalin Faculty of Agricultural And Food SciencesSzéChenyi István University, Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary
Pinke, Gyula Faculty of Agricultural And Food SciencesSzéChenyi István University, Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary
Tiborcz, Viktor Institute of Botany And Nature Conservation, Faculty Of Forestry, University Of West Hungary, Sopron, Hungary
Zagyvai, Gergely Institute of Botany And Nature Conservation, Faculty Of Forestry, University Of West Hungary, Sopron, Hungary
Zalai, Mihály Plant Protection Institute, Szent István University, Gödöllő, Hungary
Kazinczi, Gabriella Institute of Plant Science, Faculty Of Agricultural And Environmental Sciences, Kaposvár University, Kaposvár, Hungary
Leskovšek, Robert Agricultural Institute Of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Stešević, Danijela Biology Department, Faculty of Natural Sciences And Mathematics, University Of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro
Fried, Guillaume Laboratoire de la Santé des Végétaux, Unité Entomologie et Plantes Invasives, Anses Monferrier-sur-Lez, France
Kalatozishvili, Levani Institute of Botany, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
Lemke, Andreas Department of Ecology, Plant Ecology And Ecosystem Science, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
Müller-Schärer, Heinz Department Of Biology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland

06.12.2017

Published in:

Biological Invasions. - 2017, p. 1–17

English To better manage invasive populations, it is vital to understand the environmental drivers underlying spatial variation in demographic performance of invasive individuals and populations. The invasive common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, has severe adverse effects on agriculture and human health, due to its vast production of seeds and allergenic pollen. Here, we identify the scale and nature of environmental factors driving individual performance of A. artemisiifolia, and assess their relative importance. We studied 39 populations across the European continent, covering different climatic and habitat conditions. We found that plant size is the most important determinant in variation of per-capita seed and pollen production. Using plant volume as a measure of individual performance, we found that the local environment (i.e. the site) is far more influential for plant volume (explaining 25% of all spatial variation) than geographic position (regional level; 8%) or the neighbouring vegetation (at the plot level; 4%). An overall model including environmental factors at all scales performed better (27%), including the weather (bigger plants in warm and wet conditions), soil type (smaller plants on soils with more sand), and highlighting the negative effects of altitude, neighbouring vegetation and bare soil. Pollen and seed densities varied more than 200-fold between sites, with highest estimates in Croatia, Romania and Hungary. Pollen densities were highest on arable fields, while highest seed densities were found along infrastructure, both significantly higher than on ruderal sites. We discuss implications of these findings for the spatial scale of management interventions against A. artemisiifolia.

Faculty

Faculté des sciences et de médecine

Department

Département de Biologie

Language