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1 September 2016 Preliminary Report: Effects of black mustard allelopathy on the fitness and life history strategies of buffalo gourd in southern California
Diego Rodriguez, Gabriel Casagrande, Víctor D. Carmona-Galindo
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Abstract

The allelopathic compounds secreted into the soil by Brassica nigra (L.) W. D. J. Koch (black mustard) serve to reduce seed germination rates and plant fitness in nearby species. As such, B. nigra shares in an amensalistic relationship with most of the species within range of its allelopathic interference. However, Cucurbita foetidissima (buffalo gourd) is a native species in southern California that has managed to persist within and around areas invaded by B. nigra. We hypothesized that increased proximity to B. nigra would negatively impact C. foetidissima fitness and alter life history strategies. We found that C. foetidissima growing in close proximity to B. nigra had smaller fruit volume, a lower number of seeds per fruit, lower dry seed weight, a higher number of seeds per cubic centimeter, and a higher number of seeds per gram of fruit than C. cucurbita that grew outside of the allelopathic range of B. nigra. The reproductive strategy of C. cucurbita also appeared to change from K-selection to r-selection in the presence of allelochemicals.

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Diego Rodriguez, Gabriel Casagrande, and Víctor D. Carmona-Galindo "Preliminary Report: Effects of black mustard allelopathy on the fitness and life history strategies of buffalo gourd in southern California," BIOS 87(3), 98-103, (1 September 2016). https://doi.org/10.1893/BIOS-D-14-00007.1
Received: 18 March 2014; Accepted: 1 August 2015; Published: 1 September 2016
KEYWORDS
invasive species biology
plant defense
secondary metabolites
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