Influence of elements of climate change on the growth and fecundity of Datura stramonium
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RESEARCH AND EDUCATION HIGHLIGHTS
Influence of elements of climate change on the growth and fecundity of Datura stramonium Aakansha Chadha 1 & Singarayer Florentine 1
&
Muhammad Javaid 2 & Amali Welgama 1 & Christopher Turville 3
Received: 24 April 2020 / Accepted: 21 July 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract In this study, the performance of Datura stramonium, an invasive weed of soybean and solanaceous crops, was examined under different elements of climate change. Experiments conducted in CO2 chambers at ambient CO2 (400 ppm) and elevated CO2 (700 ppm) levels under both well-watered and drought conditions exhibited the fertilization effect of elevated CO2. This was, however, limited by drought. Clearly, growth of D. stramonium will be significantly enhanced by enriched atmospheric CO2 concentration under well-watered conditions, producing taller plants with greater biomass and higher seed output. Glasshouse experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of different soil moisture regimes (100%, 75%, 50% and 25% water-holding capacity (WHC)) on the growth and fecundity of D. stramonium. Plants grown in 75% WHC had the highest plant height (15.24 cm) and shoot diameter (4.25 mm). The lowest leaf area (305.91 mm2), fresh weight (14.48 g) and dry weight (4.45 g) were observed in 25% WHC conditions. The ability of D. stramonium plants to grow and complete their life cycle with high seed output, even under limited water availability, shows the weedy nature of this species which is well adapted to survive future inhospitable climatic conditions. Radiant heat treatment on the plants indicated that temperatures of 120 °C and above for more than 180 s were enough to kill the plants, suggesting that thermal weeding or wildfires will be adequate to act as a circuit breaker on the D. stramonium invasion cycle, thus allowing other control measures to be engaged for greater control. Keywords Jimson weed . Invasive plant species . Invasion biology . Weed management
Introduction Invasive species pose one of the most severe challenges to biodiversity, having been shown to significantly affect the balance and sustainable life cycles of agricultural communities (Lambertini et al. 2011). Climate change may also affect the geographic ranges of species, since climate is the dominant factor influencing the unsupported global distribution of
Responsible Editor: Gangrong Shi * Singarayer Florentine [email protected] 1
Centre for Environmental Management, School of Science, Psychology and Sport, Federation University Australia, Mount Helen, Victoria 3350, Australia
2
Department of Agronomy, University College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan
3
School of Science and Engineering, Federation University Australia, Mount Helen, Victoria 3350, Australia
vegetation (Thuiller et al. 2007). It is anticipated that species which can tolerate warmer and drier weather will be benefitted over other not so tolerant species, but it is further known that changes i
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