Lythrum salicaria common garden under Neogalerucella herbivory

We transplanted1088 seedlings of the invasive perennial plant Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife), from 136 maternal families sourced from 17 populations in the region around Ottawa, Canada, into a common garden containing 4 plots. The 17 populations differed in their prior exposure to the biocontrol agent Neogalerucella spp. leaf beetles (naïve = no prior exposure; recent = secondary colonization, ~5-15 years; release = sites of biocontrol release, ~20 years ago). Plants were planted in a wetland containing other Lythrum plants and experienced ambient (but significant) herbivory by Neogalerucella spp. leaf beetles. We measured herbivory, plant size and biomass over a period of 3.5 years; see the publication for more details. This experiment used the same seed material as a previously published greenhouse study by Stastny & Sargent 2017 (see below). Additional datasets, such as the proportion and phenology of flowering individuals, leaf size, stem and meristem numbers, etc., are ...

我们从加拿大渥太华周边地区的17个种群、共计136个母本家族中采集幼苗，将1088株入侵性多年生植物千屈菜（Lythrum salicaria，又名紫千屈菜（purple loosestrife））移栽至包含4个样地的共同花园（common garden）中。这17个种群此前与生物防治因子（biocontrol agent）新萤叶甲属（Neogalerucella spp.）叶甲的接触情况存在差异：其中naïve组为未接触种群，即此前无该叶甲取食为害史；recent组为二次定殖种群，接触时长约5至15年；release组为生物防治释放位点种群，接触时长约20年前。该共同花园设置于一片生长有其他千屈菜植株的湿地中，供试植株会受到新萤叶甲属叶甲自然发生但程度显著的取食为害。我们在3.5年的周期内对植株取食为害程度、植株体型及生物量进行了测定，详细实验细节可参阅相关已发表论文。本实验所用种子材料与Stastny及Sargent于2017年发表的一项温室研究完全一致（详见下文）。其余数据集，例如开花个体占比与开花物候、叶片尺寸、茎秆及分生组织数量等，暂未完整披露。