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Carduus acanthoides; Carduus nutans; central Pennsylvania USA; co-invasion; competition; congeners; invasional interference; invader–invader interactions; invasion ecology; invasive species management; thistles
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Invasional Interference Due To Similar Inter- And Intraspecific Competition Between Invaders May Affect Management, Emily S.J. Rauschert, Katriona Shea
Invasional Interference Due To Similar Inter- And Intraspecific Competition Between Invaders May Affect Management, Emily S.J. Rauschert, Katriona Shea
Emily Rauschert
As the number of biological invasions increases, the potential for invader– invader interactions also rises. The effect of multiple invaders can be superadditive (invasional meltdown), additive, or subadditive (invasional interference); which of these situations occurs has critical implications for prioritization of management efforts. Carduus nutans and C. acanthoides, two congeneric invasive weeds, have a striking, segregated distribution in central Pennsylvania, USA. Possible hypotheses for this pattern include invasion history and chance, direct competition, or negative interactions mediated by other species, such as shared pollinators. To explore the role of resource competition in generating this pattern, we conducted three related experiments …