ORCID Profile
0000-0003-2893-0878
Current Organisations
Universidade de Coimbra
,
James Cook University
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Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.TPLANTS.2019.03.009
Abstract: Ecological intensification aims to counter-balance the negative impacts of agriculture intensification by promoting management interventions that maximize ecosystem services. However, the application of these principles to forestry is still pending. It is time for forestry to benefit from actively researching and implementing management policies based on ecological intensification.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2016
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-02-2023
DOI: 10.1002/TAX.12884
Abstract: Range‐expansion and speciation are not new to life on Earth, but they have been scarcely observed contemporarily and, likely, never over several continents simultaneously. Evidence of incipient reproductive isolation between native and non‐native regions of some invasive alien species indicates that invasive speciation is closer than we expected. Some neo‐allopatric populations are likely to qualify as distinguishable subspecies already. Given their trajectory, whether they will become new species is not an if , but a when . I present two decision tables to help to (1) assess the coining of new invasive species or subspecies with the current taxonomical approach or (2), introduce the term “neo” to name invasive neo‐species resulting from synchronous allopatric speciation from a single, known, living ancestor. This latter case can be exemplified with the hypothetical names: “Ginkgo biloba neo americana”, “G. biloba neo europea”, etc.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-08-2020
DOI: 10.1002/ECY.3141
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-08-2018
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-06-2019
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-02-2007
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2016
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date: 10-2012
DOI: 10.1086/667585
Abstract: Over the past 3 centuries, many species have been dispersed beyond their natural geographic limits by humans, but to our knowledge, reproductive isolation has not been demonstrated for such neo-allopatric species. We grew seeds from three species of Centaurea (Centaurea solstitialis, Centaurea calcitrapa, and Centaurea sulphurea) that are native to Spain and have been introduced into California, and we tested to what extent seed production was affected by pollen source. Compared with within-population crosses, seed production decreased by 52% and 44%, respectively, when C. solstitialis and C. sulphurea from California were pollinated with conspecific pollen from native populations in Spain. This implies rapid evolution of reproductive isolation between populations in their native and nonnative ranges. Whether reproductive isolation has evolved following the introduction of other species is unknown, but additional cases are likely, considering the large number of neo-allopatric species.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 17-12-2013
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 14-01-2015
Abstract: Abstract. Ouratea spectabilis is a ubiquitous tree species in the Brazilian savannas, or Cerrados, where it plays an important ecological role. We studied its anthesis phenology, pollination biology, pollen viability, and pollen tube growth, and executed a set of intra- and interspecific experimental crosses to determine its mechanisms of incompatibility and reproductive ecology. The species presents a specialized buzz pollination syndrome and is served by a small array of specialized pollinator species. It is a mostly self-incompatible species, and although self-pollination is possible, it strongly reduces fertility, with reproductive outputs for hand self-pollination similar to those of interspecific crosses with the co-generic species O. hexasperma. Incompatibility with another commonly co-occurring co-generic species, O. floribunda, was complete, with a null fruit set, as occurred for the autonomous apomixis tests. Our pollen tube growth observations indicate that incompatibility occurs at the style, and is thus pre-zygotic. All three Ouratea species presented very high pollen viability. Manual pollen supplementation did not increase seed sets. Nevertheless, even after excess manual pollen supplementation, seed-to-ovule ratios were only 30%. Such limits are common in stressful environments, and fruit production for most Cerrado species is reported to be regularly under those levels. The apparent ubiquity of this fertility limit among Cerrado species poses interesting ecological questions, such as the role of environmental stress on reproduction and the potential overproduction of ovules as an evolutionary strategy to deal with seed predation – questions which deserve further research in the future.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-04-2023
DOI: 10.1111/EVA.13548
Abstract: Invasive species often possess a great capacity to adapt to novel environments in the form of spatial trait variation, as a result of varying selection regimes, genetic drift, or plasticity. We explored the geographic differentiation in several phenotypic traits related to plant growth, reproduction, and defense in the highly invasive Centaurea solstitialis by measuring neutral genetic differentiation ( F ST ), and comparing it with phenotypic differentiation ( P ST ), in a common garden experiment in in iduals originating from regions representing the species distribution across five continents. Native plants were more fecund than non‐native plants, but the latter displayed considerably larger seed mass. We found indication of ergent selection for these two reproductive traits but little overall genetic differentiation between native and non‐native ranges. The native versus invasive P ST – F ST comparisons demonstrated that, in several invasive regions, seed mass had increased proportionally more than the genetic differentiation. Traits displayed different associations with climate variables in different regions. Both capitula numbers and seed mass were associated with winter temperature and precipitation and summer aridity in some regions. Overall, our study suggests that rapid evolution has accompanied invasive success of C . solstitialis and provides new insights into traits and their genetic bases that can contribute to fitness advantages in non‐native populations.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2010
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 13-07-2020
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 11-08-2006
DOI: 10.1093/AOB/MCL172
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-03-2022
DOI: 10.1111/PLB.13416
Abstract: Two of the most important processes threatening vulnerable plant species are competitive displacement by invasive alien species and water stress due to global warming. Quercus lusitanica, an oak shrub species with remarkable conservation interest, could be threatened by the expansion of the invasive alien tree Paraserianthes lophantha . However, it is unclear how competition would interact with predicted reductions in water availability due to global climate change. We set up a full factorial experiment to examine the direct interspecific competition between P. lophantha and Q. lusitanica seedlings under control and water‐limited conditions. We measured seed biomass, germination, seedling emergence, leaf relative growth rate, biomass, root/shoot ratio, predawn shoot water potential and mortality to assess the in idual and combined effects of water stress and interspecific competition on both species. Our results indicate that, at seedling stage, both species experience competitive effects and responses. However, water stress exhibited a stronger overall effect than competition. Although both species responded strongly to water stress, the invasive P. lophantha exhibited significantly less drought stress than the native Q. lusitanica based on predawn shoot water potential measurements. The findings of this study suggest that the competition with invasive P. lophantha in the short term must not be dismissed, but that the long‐term conservation of the native shrub Q. lusitanica could be compromised by increased drought as a result of global change. Our work sheds light on the combined effects of biological invasions and climate change that can negatively affect vulnerable plant species.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2021
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2012
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2015
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-01-2012
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 14-08-2017
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.3531
Abstract: Centaurea solstitialis L. (yellow starthistle, Asteraceae) is a Eurasian native plant introduced as an exotic into North and South America, and Australia, where it is regarded as a noxious invasive. Changes in ploidy level have been found to be responsible for numerous plant biological invasions, as they are involved in trait shifts critical to invasive success, like increased growth rate and biomass, longer life-span, or polycarpy. C . solstitialis had been reported to be diploid (2 n = 2 x = 16 chromosomes), however, actual data are scarce and sometimes contradictory. We determined for the first time the absolute nuclear DNA content by flow cytometry and estimated ploidy level in 52 natural populations of C . solstitialis across its native and non-native ranges, around the world. All the C. solstitialis populations screened were found to be homogeneously diploid (average 2C value of 1.72 pg, SD = ±0.06 pg), with no significant variation in DNA content between invasive and non-invasive genotypes. We did not find any meaningful difference among the extensive number of native and non-native C . solstitialis populations s led around the globe, indicating that the species invasive success is not due to changes in genome size or ploidy level.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-06-2016
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-07-2016
Publisher: Canadian Science Publishing
Date: 06-2015
Abstract: Forest decline is frequently associated with infection however, infections habitually affect trees that have been previously debilitated by environmental stress. Nevertheless, the causes and physiology of noninfectious forest decline are not well known. Some Juniperus thurifera L. forests presented severe (noninfectious) declines, with defoliations over 50%. The goal of this study was to determine the causes and characterize the physiology of this noninfectious decline, and we hypothesized that it could be related to environmental stress from increasing interspecific competition resulting from land abandonment. We randomly assigned 60 trees to either a control group or one of two competition-release treatments, i.e., vegetation clearing or soil ploughing. We characterized the physiological state of the trees both before treatment application and 14 months after treatment application. The J. thurifera trees that were declining experienced significantly lower soil nutrient and water availability, which resulted in lower leaf nutrient concentrations, lower photosynthetic rates, higher water stress, and arrested growth and reproduction. We confirmed that competition release increased nutrient availability and acquisition, reduced water deficit, improved photosynthetic rates, and abruptly stopped defoliation. Competition plays an increasingly critical role in forest conservation, particularly with the reported increase in the number of species colonizing previously unfeasible habitats due to global change and the absence of traditional activities that used to buffer competition.
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 07-06-2023
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.15489
Abstract: Invasive plants are known for their impacts to ecosystems and societies, but their potential cultural use tend to be unexplored. One important mechanism of plant invasion is the use of “allelochemicals” or “novel weapons”: chemical defenses which are new to their invaded habitats and that confer them competitive advantages. However, these chemicals are precisely what confers them ethnobotanical and medicinal properties. We reviewed the literature assessing the biogeography of the cultural uses of the model invasive plant yellow-starthistle ( Centaurea solstitialis L. Asteraceae), and assessed the extent to which the introduction of a weed native to Eurasia into several non-native world regions was paralleled by the spread of cultural uses from its native range. We found that the species was rich in pharmaceutically active compounds and that the species had been traditionally used for medicinal purposes, as raw material, and as food. However, ethnobotanical uses were reported almost exclusively in its native range, with no uses described for the non-native range, apart from honey production in California, Argentina, and Australia. Our study exemplifies how, when plant introductions are not paralleled synchronously by significant human migrations, cultural adoption can be extremely slow, even within the native range of the species. Invasive species can provide real-time insights into the cultural processes by which humans learn to use plants. This case study highlights how biological invasions and cultural expansions can be subjected to different constraints.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 24-03-2015
DOI: 10.5194/WE-15-1-2015
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-06-2018
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.4080
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 31-12-2014
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-11-2019
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-02-2012
Publisher: Agentschap Plantentuin Meise
Date: 14-07-2016
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2009
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-10-2018
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-11-2011
DOI: 10.1111/J.1469-8137.2011.03982.X
Abstract: • Differences in reproductive investment can trigger asymmetric, context-dependent, functional strategies between genders in dioecious species. However, little is known about the gender responses of dioecious species to nutrient availability. • We experimentally fertirrigated a set of male and female Juniperus thurifera trees monthly for 2 yr. Water potential, photosynthesis rate and stomatal conductance were measured monthly for 2 yr, while shoot nitrogen (N) concentration, carbon isotopic composition (δ(13) C), branch growth, trunk radial growth and reproductive investment per branch were measured yearly. • Control males had lower gas exchange rates and radial growth but greater reproductive investment and higher water use efficiency (WUE as inferred from more positive δ(13) C values) than females. Fertirrigation did not affect water potential or WUE but genders responded differently to increased nutrient availability. The two genders similarly increased shoot N concentration when fertilized. The increase in shoot N was associated with increased photosynthesis in males but not in females, which presented consistently high photosynthetic rates across treatments. • Our results suggest that genders invest N surplus in different functions, with females presenting a long-term strategy by increasing N storage to compensate for massive reproductive masting events, while males seem to be more reactive to current nutrient availability, promoting gas-exchange capacity.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 26-04-2012
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date: 2006
DOI: 10.1086/497843
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-02-2021
Abstract: Invasive plants generally align with the fast side of the plant's trait economics spectrum, characterized by fast nutrient acquisition, growth and reproduction. However, there are numerous and notable exceptions, including woody invasives. The generalization that invasives are fast is driven by the high occurrence of invasive ruderal species colonizing nutrient‐rich disturbed habitats, a consequence of anthropogenic disturbance usually going hand‐in‐hand with biological introductions. Successful invasive plans have shown a remarkable ability to rapidly adapt to the new regions where they are introduced. These changes predominantly involve increased resource acquisition, growth and reproduction, aligning them even further with the fast side of the plant economics spectrum. Common garden experiments with invasive model systems provide valuable insights about the speed and direction of adaptive responses to different climates, helping us to predict general plant responses to global change. Synthesis . Invasive plant species commonly present fast nutrient acquisition, growth and reproduction, but this general pattern is mostly driven by ruderal species. Still, common garden experiments comparing populations from distant world regions show a clear trend for already fast invasive plants to rapidly adapt towards even faster traits in their non‐native regions.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2013
DOI: 10.1890/12-1875.1
Abstract: Soil biota can facilitate exotic plant invasions and these effects can be influenced by specific phylogenetic relationships among plant taxa. We measured the effects of sterilizing soils from different native plant monocultures on the growth of Potentilla recta, an exotic invasive forb in North America, and conducted plant-soil feedback experiments with P. recta, two native congeners, a close confamilial, and Festuca idahoensis, a native grass species. We also reanalyzed data comparing the ability of P. recta to invade experimentally constructed congeneric monocultures vs. monocultures of a broad suite of non-congeners. We found that monocultures as a group, other than those of the native P. arguta, were highly invasible by P. recta. In contrast, this was not the case for monocultures of P. arguta. In our first experiment, the biomass of P. recta was 50% greater when grown in soil from F. idahoensis monocultures compared to when it was grown in soils from P. arguta or P. recta monocultures. Sterilizing soil from F. idahoensis rhizospheres had no effect on the biomass of P. recta, but sterilizing soil from P. arguta and P. recta rhizospheres increased the biomass of P. recta by 108% and 90%, respectively. In a second experiment, soil trained by F. idahoensis resulted in a positive feedback for P. recta. In contrast, soils trained independently by each of the two native Potentilla species, or the closely related Dasiphora (formerly Potentilla) resulted in decreases in the total biomass of the invasive P. recta indicating strong negative feedbacks. Soil trained by P. recta also resulted in intraspecific negative feedbacks. Our results demonstrate substantial negative feedbacks for an invader in its nonnative range under certain conditions, and that native congeners can mount strong biotic resistance to an invader through the accumulation of deleterious soil biota.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 13-06-2012
Abstract: Abstract. Seed dispersal is a key process for the invasion of new areas by exotic species. Introduced plants often take advantage of native generalist dispersers. Australian acacias are primarily dispersed by ants in their native range and produce seeds bearing a protein and lipid rich reward for ant mutualists (elaiosome). Nevertheless, the role of myrmecochory in the expansion of Australian acacias in European invaded areas is still not clear. We selected one European population of Acacia dealbata and another of A. longifolia and offered elaiosome-bearing and elaiosome-removed seeds to local ant communities. For each species, seeds were offered both in high-density acacia stands and in low-density invasion edges. For both acacia species, seed removal was significantly higher at the low-density edges. For A. longifolia, manual elimination of elaiosomes reduced the chance of seed removal by 80% in the low-density edges, whereas it made no difference on the high-density stands. For A. dealbata, the absence of elaiosome reduced seed removal rate by 52%, independently of the acacia density. Our data suggests that invasive acacias have found effective ant seed dispersers in Europe and that the importance of such dispersers is higher at the invasion edges.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-09-2016
DOI: 10.1111/ECOG.02653
Location: No location found
Start Date: 2013
End Date: 2018
Funder: Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2015
End Date: 2018
Funder: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2012
End Date: 2016
Funder: European Commission
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2013
End Date: 2015
Funder: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - FCT
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2013
End Date: 2015
Funder: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P.
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2010
End Date: 2013
Funder: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P.
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