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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Urbana, Illinois » Global Change and Photosynthesis Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #208820
Title: Estimating functional nonlinearity in Alliaria petiolata demographic rates

Author
item EVANS, J - MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
item Davis, Adam
item LANDIS, D - MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
item SCHEMSKE, D - MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Ecological Society of America Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/16/2007
Publication Date: 8/11/2007
Citation: Evans, J.A., Davis, A.S., Landis, D.A., Schemske, D.W. 2007. Estimating functional nonlinearity in Alliaria petiolata demographic rates [abstract]. Ecological Society of America Abstracts. 92:3230.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata (M. Bieb.) Cavara and Grande) invades and degrades woodland habitats in North America. Coupled-plant herbivore population models will be helpful in the design and implementation of effective biological control strategies for this species. Such models will be most useful if they allow for nonlinearity in demographic rates. However, current data on garlic mustard demography either ignores nonlinear relationships between population density and demographic rates, or treats population density as a categorical, rather than continuous, variable. A quadrat charting method was used to follow the fates of individual rosettes to reproductive maturity, measuring survival and fecundity. Logistic regression was then applied to the data to quantify how these parameters were affected by the population density of individuals binned within varying distances from each plant, in turn. The results of logistic regression indicated that all plants within a 0.25 m2 quadrat were important in determining density dependent dynamics, therefore plant fate data were pooled within quadrats and quadrat-level rates were analyzed in relation to quadrat-level population density. Seedling survival to the rosette stage, rosette survival to reproductive maturity and fecundity were all found to fit negative exponential decay models at P<0.05. These functional relationships will be used to drive coupled plant-herbivore models of garlic mustard biocontrol.