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    Gutierrez, Andrew Paul Ponti, Luigi Cristofaro, Massimo Smith, Lincoln and Pitcairn, Michael J. 2017. Assessing the biological control of yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis L): prospective analysis of the impact of the rosette weevil (Ceratapion basicorne (Illiger)). Agricultural and Forest Entomology, Vol. 19, Issue. 3, p. 257.
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    Spencer, D F Enloe, S F Pitcairn, M J Ditomaso, J M and Zwerger, Peter 2014. Impacts of mowing and bud destruction onCentaurea solstitialisgrowth, flowering, root dynamics and soil moisture. Weed Research, Vol. 54, Issue. 2, p. 140.
    Goldstein, Leah J. and Suding, Katharine N. 2014. Applying competition theory to invasion: resource impacts indicate invasion mechanisms in California shrublands. Biological Invasions, Vol. 16, Issue. 1, p. 191.
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Does Superior Competitive Ability Explain Yellow Starthistle's (Centaurea solstitialis) Successful Invasion of Annual Grasslands in California?

  • David Spencer (a1), Stephen Enloe (a2), Pul-Sze Liow (a1), Greg Ksander (a1) and Raymond Carruthers (a3)...
Abstract

Yellow starthistle represents one of the most spectacular examples of biological invasion in the western United States. However, the mechanisms leading to its success have not been clearly elucidated. Although its success has been attributed to superior competitive ability, few competition studies have been performed with yellow starthistle to test this assertion. Yellow starthistle and wild oat (a dominant component of California annual grasslands) were grown in monocultures and mixtures to assess the strength of competitive interactions between them. For either species, intraspecific competition exerted a greater influence over mean plant weight than did interspecific competition. A companion study revealed temporal separation in the phenology of these plants, explaining the weak role of interspecific competition. Additional measurements of growth and soil moisture dynamics in large 270-cm-tall by 50-cm-diam polyvinyl chloride columns also showed a lack of interspecific competition and confirmed that water use patterns differed between these species, indicating niche partitioning. Wild oat reduced soil moisture to 5% but only to a depth of approximately 150 cm. Yellow starthistle depleted soil moisture to less than 5% throughout the column to a depth of at least 270 cm. These patterns were present when wild oat and yellow starthistle were grown individually or together in the columns, indicating that yellow starthistle had a greater impact on soil moisture and to greater depths. Yellow starthistle's invasion of grasslands in California does not appear to be due to superior competitive ability, but may be due to its ability to access deeper soil moisture. These results support the empty niche hypothesis that implies that invasive species are successful in new habitats because they access resources not available to resident species.

Copyright
COPYRIGHT: © Weed Science Society of America 
Corresponding author
Corresponding author's E-mail: david.spencer@ars.usda.gov or dfspencer@ucdavis.edu
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