34 research outputs found
Relação entre a variação genética de caracteres quantitativos e marcadores moleculares em subpopulações de cagaiteira (Eugenia dysenterica DC)
Caracterização molecular de populações de Butia capitata (Arecaceae) do Sul do Brasil através de marcadores AFLP
Structure and change in herbaceous communities of four ecosystems in the Front Range, Colorado, U.S.A.
Invasive exotic plants suffer less herbivory than non-invasive exotic plants
We surveyed naturally occurring leaf herbivory in nine invasive and nine non-invasive exotic plant species sampled in natural areas in Ontario, New York and Massachusetts, and found that invasive plants experienced, on average, 96% less leaf damage than non-invasive species. Invasive plants were also more taxonomically isolated than non-invasive plants, belonging to families with 75% fewer native North American genera. However, the relationship between taxonomic isolation at the family level and herbivory was weak. We suggest that invasive plants may possess novel phytochemicals with anti-herbivore properties in addition to allelopathic and anti-microbial characteristics. Herbivory could be employed as an easily measured predictor of the likelihood that recently introduced exotic plants may become invasive