One of the fundamental questions in invasion biology is why an alien species successfully invades one region but fails to do so in another region. In this regard, the recently emerging molecular ecology tools have made it possible to understand the genetic basis of invasion success and/or failure of alien species in different regions. Here we report the results of studies of the population genetic structure and diversity of Parthenium hysterophorus L. – a global plant invader – from two climatically distinct Himalayan regions: Jammu and Kashmir. While P. hysterophorus has successfully invaded across the subtropical Jammu region, it failed to invade the neighbouring temperate Kashmir region. The results, based on the ISSR data, revealed that the populations from Jammu were genetically more diverse than those from Kashmir. This conclusion was further supported by cluster analysis which grouped all the five populations of P. hysterophorus from Jammu region, but clearly separated out the Kashmir population. It is plausible that this low genetic diversity of P. hysterophorus in the latter region, along with the environmental barrier (i.e. temperate climate), has so far prevented the naturalisation and wide spread of this invasive plant species in Kashmir. The research insights from the present study, therefore, have potential implications for understanding the genetic basis of plant invasions.

中文翻译：

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在两个非本地地区，入侵植物物种的遗传多样性和种群结构存在差异，气候和入侵成功率也不同

入侵生物学中的一个基本问题是，为什么外来物种成功入侵一个地区却没有成功入侵另一个地区。在这方面，最近出现的分子生态学工具使得了解不同地区外来物种入侵成功和/或失败的遗传基础成为可能。在这里，我们报告了来自两个气候不同的喜马拉雅地区（查Jam和克什米尔）的Parthenium hysterophorus L.（一种全球植物入侵者）的种群遗传结构和多样性的研究结果。而P. hysterophorus已成功入侵整个亚热带查mu地区，但未能入侵邻近的温带克什米尔地区。根据ISSR数据得出的结果表明，查Jam地区的人口在遗传上比克什米尔地区更多样化。这个结论得到聚类分析的进一步支持，该聚类分析将来自查hy地区的所有五个斜纹对虾种群进行了分组，但显然将克什米尔种群分开。猪疫霉菌的这种低遗传多样性似乎是合理的迄今为止，在该地区的这种作物，加上环境屏障（即温带气候），一直阻止了这种入侵植物物种的自然化和在喀什米尔的广泛传播。因此，本研究的研究见解对理解植物入侵的遗传基础具有潜在的影响。