Evolution von Pflanzenverteidigung während einer Pflanzeninvasion

01/01/2020 to 31/12/2022

In the context of climate change, understanding the mechanisms involved in species resilience is a critical issue for maintaining biodiversity and global sustainability. Biological invasions are an increasing global problem, with dramatic ecological and economic consequences. To manage current invaders and prevent future invasions it is critical to understand the processes underlying successful biological invasions. For instance, we know that successful invasive species often rapidly evolve and adapt to their novel environments. The precise mechanisms, from genome to plant phenotypes and biotic interactions, are however rarely understood. Moreover, a true understanding of an invasive species requires a cross-continental perspective, and the comparison of its ecology and evolution in the native versus introduced range. In project “Genomics and epigenomics of plant invasion”, we will complete an integrative and cross-continental study of the aggressive plant invader Japanese knotweed, which experiences drastic changes in abiotic and biotic environments pressure in its introduced range. To understand the evolutionary processes during this invasion, and its underlying mechanisms, we have assembled a team of German, US and Chinese researchers with complementary expertise in invasion biology and ecological genomics. We will complete a global survey of molecular and phenotypic diversity coupled with measures of the abiotic and biotic environments of 200 Japanese knotweed populations. Then, we will combine field observation with common-garden and experimental approaches, with genomic methods to characterize how this globally successful invasive accommodates environmental challenges. Our project will be unique in its combination of geographic scale and biological depth, and it will provide important insights about one of the world’s worst invasive species. We hope that it will become a model for successful cross-continental collaboration.