Data for: Reproductive strategies of native plant populations altered by a plant invasion

Invasive plant transformers substantially change the abiotic environment
of invaded ecosystems and thus habitat suitability to resident species.
Post-invasion environmental alteration can also modify the selective
pressure acting on native plants. Here, I explored whether the decrease in
light availability due to an invasion of Heracleum mantegazzianum drives
evolution of reproductive strategies of Veronica chamaedrys, a perennial
plant combining sexual and clonal reproduction. Using a common garden
experiment with plant material of V. chamaedrys from 23 sites with
distinct invasion history and light conditions, I searched for changes in
reproductive allocation. I also asked whether evolution of the two modes
can be constrained by the genetic trade-off between them. Furthermore, the
phenotypic trade-off between the two modes was explored in a field
experiment. I found that invaded populations increased investments in
clonal reproduction, a shift that was driven by decreased light
availability, particularly in the early invasion phases. However, as light
availability rebounded in the more advanced phases of invasion, so
decreased allocation to clonal structures. In terms of relative
allocation, increased investment in ramets was paralleled by reduced seed
production, and the changes were underpinned by genetic trade-off.
Finally, the phenotypic trade-off was demonstrated in the field experiment
by showing that plants producing more ramets were also less likely to
flower. These results suggest that an exotic plant invasion can drive
evolution of reproductive allocation, here observed on a timescale of tens
of years. This knowledge is important not only to predict long-term
invasion impacts but also, more generally, to provide novel insights into
the process of adaptation of plants to changing abiotic
conditions.

入侵植物改造者会显著改变被入侵生态系统的非生物环境，进而影响本地物种的栖息地适宜性。入侵后的环境改变还能调整作用于本地植物的选择压力。在此，我探究了因大豕草（Heracleum mantegazzianum）入侵导致的光可用性降低是否会推动石蚕叶婆婆纳（Veronica chamaedrys）繁殖策略的进化——这是一种兼具有性繁殖与克隆繁殖的多年生植物。通过对来自23个具有不同入侵历史和光照条件地点的石蚕叶婆婆纳植株材料开展同质园实验，我研究了其繁殖分配的变化。我还探讨了这两种繁殖模式的进化是否会受到两者间遗传权衡的限制。此外，通过野外实验验证了表型权衡：产生更多分株的植株开花概率更低。研究结果表明，外来植物入侵可在数十年时间尺度上驱动本地植物繁殖分配的进化。这一发现不仅对预测入侵的长期影响具有重要意义，更可为理解植物适应非生物环境变化的过程提供新的见解。