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Contrasting strategies to cope with drought by invasive and endemic species of Lantana in Galapagos

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Abstract

This study compares how Lantana camara, an invasive species, and L. peduncularis, an autochthonous one, cope with drought in Galapagos. Soil surface temperature was the abiotic environmental parameter that best explained variations in photosynthetic stress. Higher soil surface temperatures were recorded in the lowlands and in rain-shadow areas, which were also the driest areas. L. peduncularis, with a shallow root system, behaved as a drought-tolerant species, showing lower relative growth rates, which decreased with leaf water content and higher photosynthetic stress levels in the lowlands and in a northwest rain-shadow area in comparison with higher and wetter locations. Its basal and maximal fluorescences decreased at lower altitudes, reflecting the recorded drops in chlorophyll concentration. In contrast, L. camara with a deep root system behaved as a drought-avoiding species, showing leaf and relative water contents higher than 55% and avoiding permanent damage to its photosynthetic apparatus even in the driest area where it showed very low chlorophyll content. Its relative growth rate decreased more in dry areas in comparison to wetter zones than did that of L. peduncularis, even though it had greater water content. Furthermore, L. camara showed higher water contents, growth rate, and lower photosynthetic stress levels than L. peduncularis in the arid lowlands. Thus, L. peduncularis maintained lower maximum quantum efficiency of photosystem II photochemistry (F v/F m) than L. camara even at sunrise, due to higher basal fluorescence values with similar maximal fluorescence, which indicated permanent damage to PSII reaction centres. Our results help to explain the success and limitations of L. camara in the invasion of arid and sub-arid environments.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Consejería de la Presidencia de la Junta de Andalucía for their approval of the International Cooperation Project AI60/04, and the Galapagos National Park for their collaboration. Thanks to Raquel and Cristina for helping in the lava fields.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apartado 1095, 41080, Sevilla, Spain

    Jesús M. Castillo, Pablo Leira-Doce, Aída Arroyo-Solís, Guillermo Curado, David Doblas, Alfredo E. Rubio-Casal, Antonio A. Álvarez-López, Susana Redondo-Gómez, Regina Berjano, Alfonso De Cires & Enrique Figueroa

  2. Universidad Central de Ecuador, Ciudad Universitaria, Quito, Ecuador

    Jorge Carrión-Tacuri, Edison Muñoz-Guacho & Giovanny Guerrero

  3. Charles Darwin Research Station, Puerto Ayora, Isla Santa Cruz, Galápagos, AP 17-01-3891, Quito, Ecuador

    Alan Tye

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  1. Jesús M. Castillo
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  2. Pablo Leira-Doce
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  14. Enrique Figueroa
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  15. Alan Tye
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Correspondence to Jesús M. Castillo.

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Castillo, J.M., Leira-Doce, P., Carrión-Tacuri, J. et al. Contrasting strategies to cope with drought by invasive and endemic species of Lantana in Galapagos. Biodivers Conserv 16, 2123–2136 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-006-9131-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-006-9131-9

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