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One genotype dominates a facultatively outcrossing plant invasion

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Abstract

Plant invasions are rarely homogenous. Processes such as selection, drift, gene flow, and founding events can rapidly shape the genetic diversity and spatial population structure of an invasion. We investigated the diversity, origins and population structure of Verbascum thapsus (common mullein), an introduced plant in North America. Despite this species being facultatively outcrossing, we found the invasion dominated by a single genotype (61% of plants were identical amplified fragment length polymorphism [AFLP] genotypes in the western USA). Fifty percent of the invasion populations were monotypic, and we found 32 genotypes overall in the 431 plants sampled from the invasion. In contrast, populations were much more diverse in the native Eurasian range, with 394 genotypes found in 479 plants. Further, we found an exact genetic match between the common genotype 1 in the USA and plants from Belgium and Germany. The identification of the most common and diverse invasive genotypes of common mullein allows their use in tests of management tools and further studies of mechanisms of this invasion.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to individually thank Massimo Cristofaro and Francesca Marini (BBCA, Rome, Italy), Stephen Novak (Boise State University, Idaho, USA), Christina Alba (Denver Botanic Gardens, Colorado, USA), Cécile Chambon, Pierre Silva, and Christophe Maurel (France), who kindly help in collecting plant DNA included in this study. Thanks to K. Mann and J. Lassey for generating AFLP data. This research was made possible in part by funding from the Bureau of Land Management (Montana, South and North Dakota) Billings Office, Colorado State University’s Graduate Degree Program in Ecology (Small Research Grant to SBE), the USA National Science Foundation (DDIG 1501905 to SBE), the Colorado State University Agricultural Experiment Station to APN, and by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Hatch project 1012868 to RAH).

Funding

No conflicts of interest have been declared. All data connected to this analysis are available in the manuscript supplementary files. All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by all. The first draft of the manuscript was written by JFG and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. USDA ARS, 1500 North Central Avenue, Sidney, MT, USA

    John F. Gaskin

  2. Department of Agricultural Biology and Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Stacy B. Endriss, Christa E. Fettig, Ruth A. Hufbauer & Andrew P. Norton

  3. Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Stacy B. Endriss

  4. USDA-ARS-European Biological Control Laboratory, Campus International de Baillarguet, 810, Avenue du Campus Agropolis, 34980, Montferrier-sur-Lez, France

    René F. H. Sforza

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  1. John F. Gaskin
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Correspondence to John F. Gaskin.

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Gaskin, J.F., Endriss, S.B., Fettig, C.E. et al. One genotype dominates a facultatively outcrossing plant invasion. Biol Invasions 23, 1901–1914 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-021-02480-0

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