Post-dispersal seed mortality of exotic and native species: Effects of fungal pathogens and seed predators

The invasive behaviour of exotic species is assumed to be due to the reduced impact of enemies on their performance, along with other possible mechanisms. I studied whether the seeds of exotics (6 species) are less impacted by seed predators and seed fungal pathogens than the seeds of their related natives (5 species). I also explored whether the co-occurrence of related natives and the time since introduction increased the percentage of lost seeds in exotics. Seeds were either left unprotected during a period of seven months or treated with fungicide, protected by seed predator exclosures or subjected to both treatments. Both treatments improved seed survival rate. Fungicide treatment had more positive effect on seeds of native than of exotic species but the fungicide-by-origin interaction was insignificant. When exotic species only were considered, fungicide had neutral effect on survival of their seeds, irrespective of the co-occurrence of related natives in the vegetation. Time since introduction was shown not to influence the proportion of seeds lost due to fungi or seed predators. Though the results of this study did not support enemy release as a possible mechanism causing the invasiveness of exotic species, it identified fungal pathogens as an enemy group with possibly differential impacts on native and exotic seeds, which thus deserves attention in future studies.