Worldwide phylogeography of the globally invasive plant: Jatropha gossypiifolia

摘要

The introduction history of many invasive plant species, disseminated globally as ornamental plants, is poorly known. In particular, there is limited understanding of the role of genetic diversity, and single versus multiple sources of introduction infacilitating invasion success. We used chloroplast microsatellites (cpSSRs) to establish (i) patterns of phylogeographic structure in the native and introduced range of Jatropha gossypiifolia, and (ii) the origin(s) of introductions and the level of genetic diversity present in native and introduced populations. Jatropha gossypiifolia exhibited limited phylogeographic structure in its native range best explained by contemporary movement associated with the ornamental plant trade. Multiple introductionsfrom diverse source locations and no reduction in genetic diversity was found in the introduced range of J. gossypiifolia.