Control and spread of Alligator Weed Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.) Griseb., in Australia: lessons for other regions

Biological control of alligator weed Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.) Griseb. has been successful in limiting growth in water in areas with mild or warm winters, but not on land. Until recently, herbicides have had very limited short term and no long term effectiveness. Several herbicides that now provide better control include: glyphosate over water, and metsulfuron and dichlobenil on land and in shallow water. The latter two are limited by lack of selectivity, contamination of water, and cost. Mechanical or manual control has provided local eradication of the weed at a few locations where infestations were small. Alligator weed is still spreading with new outbreaks on New South Wales, Australia (NSW) coastal beach areas and coastal river systems, and on inland waterbodies. Its use as a cultivated vegetable by some ethnic communities has resulted in many new locations in all eastern Australia states: Queensland to Tasmania. It is predicted that it will spread throughout much of coastal and inland southern Australia. The difficulties with management of this weed indicate that every effort should be made to prevent further invasion of wetlands and, in particular, its introduction to Africa, where it is predicted that all wetlands could support destructive levels of alligator weed growth.     

Phenotypic plasticity of invasive Alternanthera philoxeroides in relation to different water availability, compared to its native congener

Phenotypic plasticity and genetic differentiation are two possible mechanisms that plants use to cope with varying environments. Although alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides) possesses very low genetic diversity, this alien weed has successfully invaded diverse habitats with considerably varying water availability (from swamps to dry lands) in China. In contrast, its native congener (Alternanthera sessilis) has a much narrower ecological breadth, and is usually found in moist habitats. To understand the mechanisms underlying the contrasting pattern, we performed a greenhouse experiment to compare the reaction norms of alligator weed with those of its native congener, in which water availability was manipulated. Our results revealed that the two congeners had similar direction of phenotypic plasticity. However, A. philoxeroides showed greater plasticity in amount than did A. sessilis in many traits examined during the switch from wet to drought treatment. Nearly all of the phenotypic variance in A. philoxeroides could be ascribed to plasticity, while A. sessilis had a much higher fraction of phenotypic variance that could be explained by genotypic variation. These interspecific differences in plastic responses to variable water availability partially explained the difference in spatial distribution of the two congeners.     

喜旱莲子草和接骨草竞争对模拟增温的响应

研究外来入侵植物与本地植物种竞争对气候变暖的响应, 对于预测未来气候变化背景下入侵植物的入侵趋势、理解其入侵机制以及筛选生态替代种具有重要的意义。以入侵我国的外来植物喜旱莲子草(Alternanthera philoxeroides)和本地植物种接骨草(Sambucus chinensis)为材料, 通过两种植物单栽、纯栽和混栽, 采用红外辐射加热器模拟增温, 研究了两种植物竞争对模拟增温的响应。结果表明: (1)在模拟增温期间(2013年5-12月), 增温组空气平均温度比不增温组提高了0.47 ℃, 相对湿度降低了1.87%; (2)混栽的喜旱莲子草除根冠比与单栽无显著差异外, 其余各生物量和根系形态指标均显著低于单栽喜旱莲子草; 无竞争、种间竞争和种内竞争三种竞争间, 接骨草除根冠比、细根与总根生物量比、比根长和比根表面积无显著差异外, 其余指标均呈现无竞争>种间竞争>种内竞争的趋势; (3)无竞争、种间竞争和种内竞争三种条件下, 喜旱莲子草各指标在增温和不增温处理间差异均不显著, 而接骨草总生物量和根生物量在无竞争和种间竞争条件下增温处理均显著低于不增温处理, 在种内竞争条件下则相反; (4)增温使接骨草的相对拥挤系数降低, 接骨草对温度升高反应敏感, 而喜旱莲子草则表现出一定的适应性。由此推测, 在中度遮阴陆生生境中, 接骨草有望成为喜旱莲子草生物替代控制的材料。     

Invasion by alligator weed,Alternanthera philoxeroides,is associated with decreased species diversity across the latitudinal gradient in China

Aims Invasive species occurrence and their effects on biodiversity may vary along latitudes. We examined the occurrence (species cover) and relative dominance (importance value) of invasive alligator weed, Alternanthera philoxeroides, in its terrestrial habitat in China through a large-scale latitudinal field investigation.Methods We established 59 plots along the latitudinal transect from 21°N to 37°N. We recorded species name, abundance, height and individual species coverage of plants in every quadrat. We then measured α-species diversity variations associated with the A. philoxeroides community across the latitudinal range. We also analyzed the effect of latitude on plant species' distributions in this community by using canonical correspondence analysis (CCA).Important findings We found that species cover and importance value of A. philoxeroides increased in areas <35°N, but decreased at higher latitudes. Lower latitudes supported greater species diversity than higher latitudes. Small-scale invasion of A. philoxeroides was associated with higher species diversity, but community diversity was lower when A. philoxeroides species cover exceeded 36%. Community plant species changed from mesophyte to hygrophyte gradually from low to high latitude. Our research suggests that latitude had significant influences on community diversity which interacted with the biotic resistance of a community and impact of invasion. Consequently, A. philoxeroides may become more invasive and have greater negative impacts on community species diversity in higher latitudes as global climate changes.     

入侵植物喜旱莲子草——生物学、生态学及管理

喜旱莲子草Alternanthera philoxeroides原产于南美洲,属于苋科Amaranthaceae莲子草属Alternanthera。一百多年来,该物种通过压舱水或军马饲料被传播到北美洲、大洋洲、欧洲,以及东南亚和中国等地,成为暖温带-热带湿润气候区淡水生态系统的重要外来入侵种。本文结合对喜旱莲子草在原产地的分布状况的考察、原产地和入侵地喜旱莲子草的比较研究,以及入侵生态学研究的最新成果,对该物种在原产地的地理分布和种内变异、生活史特征、入侵机制和控制策略等方面进行评述,以提高我国科研人员对这一外来入侵种的认识,为科学管理和控制提供依据。     

不同水陆环境中喜旱莲子草甲基化调控因子表达水平和差异表达基因启动子区甲基化状态分析

DNA甲基化是一种重要的表观遗传调控方式,参与对植物生长发育的调控,并在植物逆境胁迫响应中发挥作用。DNA甲基化的建立和维持是胞嘧啶甲基转移酶、染色质重塑酶、组蛋白修饰因子和去甲基化因子等协同作用的结果,环境胁迫能诱导植物体内DNA甲基化状态改变,进而改变基因表达水平和式样,影响植物的适应性。喜旱莲子草是一种恶性入侵植物,种内遗传多样性很低,主要依靠极强的表型可塑性侵占不同水陆生境。对克隆繁殖的喜旱莲子草个体进行不同时间的淹水处理,并用定量PCR方法检测16个DNA甲基化调控基因在不同处理条件下的表达水平和变化趋势,发现其中13个基因在不同处理时间点的表达水平有明显变化,且在淹水植株中多数基因在处理前期被强烈诱导上调表达。运用亚硫酸氢钠测序技术对两个在不同水陆条件下明显差异表达基因(Contig942和Contig23336)的上游启动子区甲基化动态进行分析,发现启动子区多个胞嘧啶位点的甲基化修饰状态在不同水陆条件下及淹水处理的不同时期呈现快速且可逆的动态变化,可能影响这些基因在不同环境条件下的表达水平。本研究结果能帮助了解喜旱莲子草表型可塑性变异和适应性发生的分子机理。     

两种入侵能力不同的莲子草光合系统稳定性的比较研究

为揭示恶性杂草空心莲子草入侵的部分机制,并为采取防控措施降低其危害提供理论依据,比较了空心莲子草与其同属的入侵能力相对较弱的刺花莲子草对光氧化胁迫(由10μmol·L-1甲基紫精在光强100μmol·m-2·s-1条件下诱导产生)的生理响应。结果表明:在光氧化胁迫下,空心莲子草和刺花莲子草两者的叶绿素、类胡萝卜素、总酚和类黄酮含量均显著下降,叶片细胞死亡率相应升高,但空心莲子草对光氧化胁迫具有较高的忍耐性,这可能与其总酚和类黄酮含量以及DPPH·(1,1-二苯基苦基苯肼)自由基清除能力有关。这种特性可能是空心莲子草光合系统稳定性更高、入侵能力更强和危害性更大的重要因素之一。     

Genetic diversity of alligator weed in China by RAPD analysis

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was applied to analyze geneticdiversity of an invasive weedy species, alligator weed (Alternantheraphiloxeroides (Martius) Grisebach), collected from eight differentsites in southern China. Amplified by 108 RAPD primers, 391 bands wereidentified from samples collected from three of the eight sites withconsiderably large spatial intervals, but no genetic variation was detectedamong the samples. A total number of 196 RAPD fragments were amplified from allsamples collected in the eight sites by 31 primers that produced the mostconsistent results, but no genetic variation was detected within or betweenpopulations. The molecular data indicated extremely low genetic diversity in thealligator weed. Given the fact that the alligator weed is a serious invasiveweed, and widely found in China, we consider that the low genetic diversity ofthe alligator weed does not affect the success of its expansion in China, andlow genetic diversity does not necessarily lead to endangered status of a plantspecies. In addition, molecular evidence from this study suggests that thealligator weed in southern China might originate from a very few clones or evenonly from a single clone. Therefore, the rapid range expansion of the alligatorweed is most likely the result of a massive vegetative propagation since it wasintroduced in China.     

重金属胁迫条件下空心莲子草的生长和营养特征分析

空心莲子草是一种常见的水生植物,并能在重金属污染的水体或附近土壤中生长.本研究发现,空心莲子草能富集6种常见的重金属元素,其富集能力为:Zn2+>Mn2+>Pb2+>Cu2+>Cd2+>Cr3+.高浓度(1 mmol/L) Cu2+、Mn2+、Zn2+和Cr3+ 等重金属胁迫处理条件下,空心莲子草的根冠比增加,生物干重、总根长和总根表面积都相应降低.此外,高浓度(1 mmol/L) Pb2+、Cd2+、Cu2+或Zn2+分别胁迫处理条件下,空心莲子草的K+、Ca+和Mg+等元素的含量变化差异显著(P＜0.05).以上研究表明,空心莲子草通过改变体内钾钙镁等重要生长元素营养情况来适应重金属污染的胁迫,有很强的富集重金属元素的能力,进而降低污染、净化水体.空心莲子草对重金属污染的生长响应及体内重要矿物元素营养特性之间的相互关系,可能为重金属污染的水土生物修复提供理论依据.     

The bud and root sprouting capacity of Alternanthera philoxeroides after over-wintering on sediments of a drained canal

Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.) Griseb. is one of many aggressive invasive plants that can grow in diverse habitats. Aquatic A. philoxeroides forms dense floating mats over the water surface. However, when water levels decrease during winter, some mats become stranded on exposed sediments and are thus exposed to air. Do the stems of these mats possess the capacity to develop new shoots during the next growing season? In this study, we examined the sprouting of sediment-stranded over-wintering mats of A. philoxeroides. Stems of the over-wintering mats were divided into three types (dry, withered, and fresh stems) depending on moisture content and were immersed in water for 4 weeks to observe the sprouting of axillary buds and roots. The results showed that withered stems yielded much more biomass than dry or fresh stems. Stem moisture content significantly affected the sprouting rate and the length growth rate of buds and roots. Dry stems lacked reproductive capacity. The sprouting rate and length growth rate of the buds and roots were higher in fresh stems than in withered stems. Furthermore, the mean values of the bud sprouting rate and the bud length growth rate were highest during the first week, i.e., most of buds sprouted within 1 week or less. Our results suggest that more than 70% (on a dry weight basis) of the stems in stranded mats possessed rapid sprouting capacity even after over-wintering on the sediment for more than 2 months. This strategy may be an adaptation to the fluctuations inherent in many aquatic habitats, and it possibly explains why A. philoxeroides can flourish even after a dry winter. Handling editor: S. M. Thomaz