Browsing by Author "Barney, Jacob N."
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- Adaptive constraints at the range edge of a widespread and expanding invasive plantFletcher, Rebecca A.; Atwater, Daniel Z.; Haak, David C.; Bagavathiannan, Muthukumar; DiTommaso, Antonio; Lehnhoff, Erik; Paterson, Andrew H.; Auckland, Susan; Govindasamy, Prabhu; Lemke, Cornelia; Morris, Edward; Rainville, Lisa; Barney, Jacob N. (Oxford University Press, 2023-11-05)Identifying the factors that facilitate and limit invasive species' range expansion has both practical and theoretical importance, especially at the range edges. Here, we used reciprocal common garden experiments spanning the North/South and East/West range that include the North American core, intermediate and range edges of the globally invasive plant, Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense) to investigate the interplay of climate, biotic interactions (i.e. competition) and patterns of adaptation. Our results suggest that the rapid range expansion of Johnsongrass into diverse environments across wide geographies occurred largely without local adaptation, but that further range expansion may be restricted by a fitness trade-off that limits population growth at the range edge. Interestingly, plant competition strongly dampened Johnsongrass growth but did not change the rank order performance of populations within a garden, though this varied among gardens (climates). Our findings highlight the importance of including the range edge when studying the range dynamics of invasive species, especially as we try to understand how invasive species will respond to accelerating global changes.
- Horsenettle (Solanum carolinense) fruit bacterial communities are not variable across fine spatial scalesHeminger, Ariel R.; Belden, Lisa K.; Barney, Jacob N.; Badgley, Brian D.; Haak, David C. (PeerJ, 2021-11-08)Fruit house microbial communities that are unique from the rest of the plant. While symbiotic microbial communities complete important functions for their hosts, the fruit microbiome is often understudied compared to other plant organs. Fruits are reproductive tissues that house, protect, and facilitate the dispersal of seeds, and thus they are directly tied to plant fitness. Fruit microbial communities may, therefore, also impact plant fitness. In this study, we assessed how bacterial communities associated with fruit of Solanum carolinense, a native herbaceous perennial weed, vary at fine spatial scales (<0.5 km). A majority of the studies conducted on plant microbial communities have been done at large spatial scales and have observed microbial community variation across these large spatial scales. However, both the environment and pollinators play a role in shaping plant microbial communities and likely have impacts on the plant microbiome at fine scales. We collected fruit samples from eight sampling locations, ranging from 2 to 450 m apart, and assessed the fruit bacterial communities using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Overall, we found no differences in observed richness or microbial community composition among sampling locations. Bacterial community structure of fruits collected near one another were not more different than those that were farther apart at the scales we examined. These fine spatial scales are important to obligate out-crossing plant species such as S. carolinense because they are ecologically relevant to pollinators. Thus, our results could imply that pollinators serve to homogenize fruit bacterial communities across these smaller scales.
- Post-Planting Maintenance of Early-Stage Reconstructed Prairies within Urban Parks of IllinoisWeiss, Molly N.; Derr, Jeffrey F.; Barney, Jacob N.; Fox, Laurie J. (Virginia Tech, 2022-12-13)Tallgrass prairies are diverse ecosystems spread across the Midwest. Due to human activities such as farming and urban development, these prairies are now rare in their authentic form. The focus of this study is on the tallgrass prairies of Southwest Illinois. Prairie conservation efforts have engaged in various reconstruction projects, aiming to encourage and reestablish lost tallgrass prairie ecosystems. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of post-planting maintenance methods on coverage and biodiversity of native and invasive species within early-stage reconstructed tallgrass prairies in urban parks of southern Illinois. Evaluated variables included: total and individual species cover, plant type category, plant classification, species diversity, and community evenness in relation to management methods of annual mowing, manual weeding, and biannual prescribed burning. Results show total percent cover by management method is nonsignificant, but cover by plant type category revealed forb and grass cover to be significant for manually weeded beds in comparison to biannually burned and annually mowed beds. Similarly, manually weeded beds promoted the highest cover by planted native species whereas cover by invasive species was highest within annually mowed treatment beds. In conclusion, results suggest future promotion of grass species across all observed prairie systems due to their lack of presence in relation to native forbs. Manual weeding was most influential on native species flourishment, and in combating invasive species in relation to other treatments. Although, manual weeding is not always efficient and successful alone as a maintenance practice, therefore the use of long-term adaptive techniques is recommended.
- A silent spring, or a new cacophony? Invasive plants as maestros of modern soundscapesBarney, Jacob N.; O'Malley, Grace; Ripa, Gabrielle N.; Drake, Joseph; Franusich, David; Mims, Meryl C. (Wiley, 2024-04-01)Sound plays a key role in ecosystem function and is a defining part of how humans experience nature. In the seminal book Silent Spring (Carson 1962), Rachel Carson warned of the ecological and environmental harm of pesticide usage by envisioning a future without birdsong. Soundscapes, or the acoustic patterns of a landscape through space and time, encompass both biological and physical processes (Pijanowski et al. 2011). Yet, they are often an underappreciated element of the natural world and the ways in which it is perceived. Scientists are only beginning to quantify changes to soundscapes, largely in response to anthropogenic sounds, but soundscape alteration is likely linked to many dimensions of global change. For example, invasive non-native species (hereafter, invasive species) are near-ubiquitous members of ecosystems globally and threaten both natural and managed ecosystems at great expense. Their impacts to soundscapes may be an important, yet largely unknown, threat to ecosystems and the human and economic systems they support.