Person: Acosta Gallo, Belén
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First Name
Belén
Last Name
Acosta Gallo
Affiliation
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Faculty / Institute
Ciencias Biológicas
Department
Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución
Area
Ecología
Identifiers
4 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
Item Variation in phenology and overall performance traits can help to explain the plant invasion process amongst Mediterranean ecosystems(NeoBiota, 2018) Martín Forés, Irene; Casado González, Miguel Ángel; Castro Parga, Isabel; Pozo Lira, Alejandro del; Molina-Montnegro, Marco A.; Miguel Garcinuño, José Manuel de; Acosta Gallo, BelénPlant traits such as phenological development, growth rate, stress tolerance and seeds production may play an important role in the process of acclimatisation to new environments for introduced plants. Experiments that distinguish phenotypic plasticity from ecotypic differentiation would allow an understanding of the role of plant traits in the invasion process. We quantified the variation in phenological and overall performance traits associated with the invasion process for three herbaceous species native to Spain and invasive to Chile (Trifolium glomeratum, Hypochaeris glabra and Leontodon saxatilis). We grew plants from native and exotic populations along rainfall gradients in outdoor common gardens, located in the native and the introduced ranges and measured plant survival, phenology (days to flowering), biomass and seed output. Days to flowering was positively correlated with precipitation of the origin population for T. glomeratum and the native populations of H. glabra, but this pattern was not adaptive, as it was not associated with an increase in performance traits of these species. Phenology may instead reflect ecotypic differentiation to the environmental conditions of the original populations. Comparison between ranges (i.e. performance in both common gardens) was only possible for L. saxatilis. This species showed Littlevariation in phenology and both native and exotic populations had higher fitness in the introduced range. This suggests that plasticity enhances invasiveness through increased propagule pressure in the novel environment. Our findings highlight the utility of common garden experiments in examining patterns of phenological and performance traits that relate to species invasiveness.Item The invasiveness of Hypochaeris glabra (Asteraceae): Responses in morphological and reproductive traits for exotic populations(PLoS ONE, 2018) Martín Forés, Irene; Acosta Gallo, Belén; Castro Parga, Isabel; Miguel Garcinuño, José Manuel de; Pozo Lira, Alejandro del; Casado González, Miguel ÁngelScientists have been interested in many topics driven by biological invasions, such as shifts in the area of distribution of plant species and rapid evolution. Invasiveness of exotic plant species depends on variations on morphological and reproductive traits potentially associated with reproductive fitness and dispersal ability, which are expected to undergo changes during the invasion process. Numerous Asteraceae are invasive and display dimorphic fruits, resulting in a bet-hedging dispersal strategy ±wind-dispersed fruits versus animal-dispersed fruits±. We explored phenotypic differentiation in seed morphology and reproductive traits of exotic (Chilean) and native (Spanish) populations of Hypochaeris glabra. We collected flower heads from five Spanish and five Chilean populations along rainfall gradients in both countries. We planted seeds from the ten populations in a common garden trial within the exotic range to explore their performance depending on the country of origin (native or exotic) and the environmental conditions at population origin (precipitation and nutrient availability). We scored plant biomass, reproductive traits and fruit dimorphism patterns. We observed a combination of bet-hedging strategy together with phenotypic differentiation.Native populations relied more on bet-hedging while exotic populations always displayed greater proportion of wind-dispersed fruits than native ones. This pattern may reflect a strategy that might entail a more efficient long distance dispersal of H. glabra seeds in the exotic range, which in turn can enhance the invasiveness of this species.Item Asymmetric fows and drivers of herbaceous plant invasion success among Mediterranean-climate regions(Scientific Reports, 2018) Casado Hernández, Miguel Ángel; Martín Forés, Irene; Castro Parga, Isabel; Miguel Garcinuño, José Manuel; Acosta Gallo, BelénUnderstanding the mechanisms that support the arrival, establishment and spread of species over an introduced range is crucial in invasion ecology. We analysed the unintentionally introduced herbaceous species that are naturalised in the fve Mediterranean-climate regions. There is an asymmetry in the species fows among regions, being the Iberian Peninsula the main donor to the other regions. At interregional scale, the species’ capacity to spread among regions is related to the ecological versatility of the species in the donor area (Iberian Peninsula). At intraregional scale, the species’ capacity to successfully occupy a complete region frst depends on the time elapsed from its introduction and afterwards on the degree of occurrence in the region of origin, which is commonly related to its chance of coming into contact with humans. Information on exotic species in their origin region provides insights into invasion process and decision-making to reduce the risks of future invasions.Item Non-random co-occurrence of native and exotic plant species in Mediterranean grasslands(Acta Oecologica, 2016) Miguel Garcinuño, José Manuel de; Martín Forés, Irene; Acosta Gallo, Belén; Pozo Lira, Alejandro del; Ovalle, Carlos; Sánchez Jardón, Laura; Castro Parga, Isabel; Casado González, Miguel ÁngelInvasion by exotic species in Mediterranean grasslands has determined assembly patterns of native and introduced species, knowledge of which provides information on the ecological processes underlying these novel communities. We considered grasslands from Spain and Chile. For each country we considered the whole grassland community and we split species into two subsets: in Chile, species were classified as natives or colonizers (i.e. exotics); in Spain, species were classified as exclusives (present in Spain but not in Chile) or colonizers (Spanish natives and exotics into Chile). We used null models and co-occurrence indices calculated in each country for each one of 15 sites distributed along a precipitation gradient and subjected to similar silvopastoral exploitation. We compared values of species co-occurrence between countries and between species subsets (natives/colonizers in Chile; exclusives/colonizers in Spain) within each country and we characterised them according to climatic variables. We hypothesized that: a) the different coexistence time of the species in both regions should give rise to communities presenting a spatial pattern further from random in Spain than in Chile, b) the co-occurrence patterns in the grasslands are affected by mesoclimatic factors in both regions. The patterns of co-occurrence are similar in Spain and Chile, mostly showing a spatial pattern more segregated than expected by random. The colonizer species are more segregated in Spain than in Chile, possibly determined by the longer residence time of the species in the source area than in the invaded one. The segregation of species in Chile is related to water availability, being species less segregated in habitat with greater water deficit; in Spain no relationship with climatic variables was found. After an invasion process, our results suggest that the possible process of alteration of the original Chilean communities has not prevented the assembly between the native and colonizer species together.