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The enemy release hypothesis (ERH), which has been the theoretical basis for classic biological control, predicts that the success of invaders in the introduced range is due to their release from co-evolved natural enemies (i.e. herbivores, pathogens and predators) left behind in the native range. We tested this prediction by comparing herbivore pressure on native European and introduced North American...
The evolution of increased competitive ability hypothesis predicts that introduced plants that are long liberated from their natural enemies may lose costly herbivore defense, enabling them to reallocate resources previously spent on defense to traits that increase competitive superiority. We tested this prediction by comparing the competitive ability of native St Johns wort ( Hypericum perforatum)...
Initiation of insect outbreaks is poorly understood, and may involve sporadic events that temporarily release insect populations from predation or parasitism. While studying a declining outbreak of the western tussock moth (Orgyia vetusta) on bush lupine (Lupinus arboreus), we witnessed the onset of a new tussock moth outbreak, separated by 1,000 m in space and 2 months in phenological timing from...
Increased nitrogen availability is known to favor invasion by non-native plants into natural grasslands. This suggests that decreasing nitrogen availability might serve as a countermeasure against invasion. One way to at least temporarily decrease nitrogen availability to plants is to increase microbial nitrogen uptake by adding carbon to the soil, and sawdust is a carbon source whose low cost could...
Abstract Seedlings suffer high mortality in most plant populations, with both competition and herbivory proposed as being important mechanisms causing seedling death. The relative strength of these factors, however, is often unknown. Here I ask how interspecific competition for light and insect herbivory jointly affect seedling survival of bush lupine (Lupinus arboreus), a native shrub common to coastal...
Abstract Whether seed consumers affect plant establishment is an important unresolved question in plant population biology. Seed consumption is ubiquitous; at issue is whether seedling recruitment is limited by safe-sites or seeds. If most seeds inhabit sites unsuitable for germination, post-dispersal seed consumption primarily removes seeds that would otherwise never contribute to the population...
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