Plasticity-Mediated Persistence in New and Changing Environments

Table 1

Five important questions pertaining to PMP and invasive success, and references pertaining to these questions published in 2013.

Organism	Description	Reference
Question  1: Are invasive species plastic for functional traits?
Cyanobacteria	Growth rate and morphology were altered by temperature.	[131]
Plant	Physiological plasticity permitted savannah-adapted trees to survive floodwaters throughout their invaded range.	[132]
Plant	Climate variation induced plasticity in several phenotypes.	[133]
Plant	Different growth strategies in different habitats kept population growth stable.	[134]
Plant	Reciprocal transplant of 15 invasive populations showed that all populations were similarly plastic.	[135]
Plant	Plasticity was induced by water depth and light quality.	[136]
Plant	Different populations of invasive species differed in plasticity to changing water conditions.	[137]
Plant	Growth was altered by nitrogen concentrations.	[138]
Mollusc	Size-at-maturity changed with temperature, permitted survival during El Niño.	[139]
Mollusc	Shell shape plasticity induced by water flow velocity.	[140]
Crustacean	Reproductive plasticity detected as facultative parthenogenesis.	[141]
Insect	Acclimation to cool temperatures increased performance.	[142]
Insect	Physiological plasticity enabled salt tolerance in invaded island habitats.	[143]
Fish	Plasticity found in length of spawning season.	[144]
Amphibian	Hydroperiod did not affect growth or development (no plasticity detected).	[145]
Bird	Epigenetic modifications higher in populations with less genetic diversity.	[146]
Question  2: Are invasive species as or more invasive than their ancestors?
Plant	Invasive populations more plastic than populations from the ancestral range.	[147]
Plant	8 invasive populations were as plastic as 8 populations from the ancestral range for 20 highly plastic traits.	[148]
Plant	2 invasive populations had evolved increased and decreased plasticity for different traits, in comparison to 18 populations from the ancestral range.	[149]
Plant	Plasticity increased in the invasive population relative to their resurrected ancestors.	[48]
Fish	Invasive populations were less plastic than populations from their ancestral range.	[150]
Question  3: Is plasticity higher in invasive species than in the competitors they are displacing?
Plant	Germination of invasive species was not affected by salinity, presumably implying physiological plasticity; one native species performed even better.	[151]
Plant	Invasive species were more plastic than native species and were better competitors, but this varied with the invasive success of the species.	[152]
Nematode	Plasticity in the reproductive traits of an invasive species gave it a competitive advantage.	[153]
Insect	Physiological plasticity to temperature was higher in an invasive species.	[154]
Question  4: Is plasticity higher in invasive species than in noninvasive species?
Insect	An invasive species with a large range was compared to an invasive species with a small range on the same island; the large-range species was more resistant to temperature, implying physiological plasticity.	[45]
Question  5: Does plasticity permit persistence of native species in the face of invaders? (native/invader)
Crustacean/; Crustacean	Invaders were only present in ion-rich waters, natives in ion-poor and ion-rich waters. Plasticity in natives allowed ion-poor populations to migrate to ion-rich waters, supplementing a dwindling ion-rich native population.	[155]
Insect/Insect	Parasitoid wasps ably preyed upon an invading moth, irrespective of moth’s host plant.	[156]
Amphibian/Insect, Fish, Crustacean	Both native and invasive amphibians exhibited behavioural and/or morphological plasticity in the face of both native and invasive predators, although the magnitude of the plastic response was smaller towards invasive predators.	[157]