garlic mustard flower

Spatial structure in invasive Alliaria petiolata reflects restricted seed dispersal

The aliens are invading, run for your lives! Truth be told, the aliens have already invaded, repeatedly and from zebra mussels to emerald ash borer, they can be a huge problem. Former PhD student Dr. Shekhar Biswas (Wagner Lab) tackled a piece of this problem in his recent paper “Spatial structure in invasive Alliaria petiolata reflects restricted seed dispersal” published in Biological Invasions. Garlic mustard is a notorious invasive species in North America and it often occurs in discrete patches. The processes shaping density and spatial distributions of this species are still poorly understood. Shekhar used data from a seed dispersal experiment and a three-year field survey to show propagule pressure is the most important process shaping plant density. Furthermore, he showed that spatially restricted seed dispersal (1.82 m) is the most important factor underlying this species’ patchy distributions.

Shekhar is now a PDF at Lakehead University – congratulations on the success, Shekhar!  

Read this paper »