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Wide spread invasion without sexual reproduction? A case study on European willows in Patagonia, Argentina

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Abstract

Willows of the Salix alba–Salix fragilis complex, native to western Eurasia, represent typical invaders of floodplain ecosystems worldwide. Introduced to South America by European settlers probably at the end of the nineteenth century, their distribution has increased significantly along the rivers in Northern Patagonia. This case study carried out mainly in the area around Lake Nahuel Huapi aims to analyze clonal structures and their spatial distribution using molecular markers as well as to relate the observed patterns to settlement history and life history traits of this species complex. Leaf material from 171 trees was collected along selected river floodplains in Northern Patagonia and genotypes were determined at six microsatellite loci. Including 62 reference samples of the S. alba–S. fragilis complex from German rivers, Probability of Identity (P ID) was calculated and a Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) conducted. From the altogether thirteen different genotypes detected, one dominant genotype (female) formed monoclonal stands along most of the studied river stretches. The maximum linear distance between the most remote ramets of this clone was 790 km. Evidence arose that the colonizing process so far is exclusively based on vegetative propagation in the focal study area and is obviously attributable to the pronounced brittleness of the hybrid parent S. fragilis. However, outside this area the occurrence of male trees and a diversity of genotypes indicate that evolutionary processes by recombination are involved within the willow complex. Therefore, an increase in genotypes can be assumed when male individuals and therefore sexual reproduction would appear in the area around Lake Nuhuel Huapi. This could be a crucial point for the long-term invasion success of the taxa when climatic and other environmental conditions will change in Southern Argentina.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Carolina Moreno and Carolina Soliani for their help in the laboratory in Bariloche. For the help while sample collection in Patagonia, we thank Abel Martinez and Alejandro Aparicio, and Fernando Raffo for providing the GIS-files. Many thanks also go to Adam Hajduk for sharing his great knowledge of the Patagonian history with us. Furthermore, we acknowledge the National Park Nahuel Huapi, where part of the samples was collected and especially Adolfo Moretti who facilitated sample collections on the Victoria Island. Further thanks go to Christina Mengel for her valuable help in the laboratory in Marburg, to Eike Lena Neuschulz for sample collection at the Elbe River and to two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Grant to E.M. by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt DBU (DBU—German Environment Foundation).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Biology, Conservation Biology Group, Philipps-University of Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse 8, 35043, Marburg, Germany

    Katharina B. Budde, Eva Mosner, Sascha Liepelt, Birgit Ziegenhagen & Ilona Leyer

  2. Unit of Forest Genetics, Centre of Forest Research CIFOR–INIA, Carretera de la Coruña km 7.5, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Katharina B. Budde

  3. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Unidad de Genética Ecológica y Mejoramiento Forestal, EEA Bariloche, CC 277, 8400, San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

    Leonardo Gallo & Paula Marchelli

  4. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Paula Marchelli

  5. Department U2: Ecological Interactions, Federal Institute of Hydrology, Am Mainzer Tor 1, 56068, Koblenz, Germany

    Eva Mosner

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  1. Katharina B. Budde
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Correspondence to Ilona Leyer.

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Budde, K.B., Gallo, L., Marchelli, P. et al. Wide spread invasion without sexual reproduction? A case study on European willows in Patagonia, Argentina. Biol Invasions 13, 45–54 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-010-9785-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-010-9785-9

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