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Are plant populations in expanding ranges made up of escaped cultivars? The case of Ilex aquifolium in Denmark

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Abstract

Rapid range expansions are becoming more prevalent, especially as climate continues to change. The escape of ornamental plants within their native range represents a significant, but often overlooked component of this process. Few studies have focused on the role of ornamental plants in range expansions using molecular markers to identify the possibility of mixed native and cultivar populations. The purpose of the present study was to determine the genetic variation of a native woody plant with ornamental conspecifics at the edge of its distribution. We selected Ilex aquifolium L. (English holly) which grows naturally in Denmark but is spreading eastward in Scandinavia, possibly due to a combination of climate change and introduction of more frost-tolerant cultivars. We sampled 187 individuals from older and recently established populations, and cultivated I. aquifolium throughout Denmark, and compared them using nuclear SSR and AFLP. The overall results showed no structure or clustering of plants from the historical or the expanding range, or of wild or cultivated plants. The only clusters found were for a group of cultivated hybrid I. aquifolium. The samples represented four genetic groupings, indicating either hybridization between cultivated and wild I. aquifolium or replacement of the latter by cultivars. Thus, ornamental genotypes of I. aquifolium contribute to the northeastern range expansion of the species and eventual invasiveness within its native range.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank T. Torimaru and associates for supplying the SSR primers of Ilex leucoclada. We are also very appreciative of N. Frantzen of Gartneriet Vornæs and Vallensbæk Stue og Havecentre for allowing us to take leaf samples from their I. aquifolium cultivars. Earlier versions of the manuscript benefitted from numerous critical comments and constructive suggestions by the Associate Editor, Isabelle Olivieri, and two anonymous referees. The project was financially supported through a PhD Grant to AMTS from the University of Copenhagen, and by NordForsk Grant 80167 to JK (“Nordic Network on Species Range Dynamics”).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agriculture and Ecology, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 21, 1958, Frederiksberg C, Denmark

    Anne-Marie T. Skou, Fiorello Toneatto & Johannes Kollmann

  2. AgroTech, Højbakkegårds Alle 21, 2630, Tåstrup, Denmark

    Anne-Marie T. Skou

  3. Restoration Ecology, Center of Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Emil-Ramann-Straße 6, 85350, Freising, Germany

    Johannes Kollmann

Authors
  1. Anne-Marie T. Skou
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  2. Fiorello Toneatto
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  3. Johannes Kollmann
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Johannes Kollmann.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 3, 4, 5 and Fig. 6.

Table 3 Population and leaf characteristics of the I. aquifolium plants sampled in Denmark
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Table 4 Characteristics of the cultivars used within the study on genetic diversity of I. aquifolium in Denmark
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Table 5 Six Ilex leucoclada (Maxim.) Makino primers used for SSR analysis of I. aquifolium (based on Torimaru et al. 2004)
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Fig. 6
figure 6

Cluster analysis of phenotypes of the entire dataset, including older and recently established wild populations, and cultivated plants of I. aquifolium based on leaf length, width, and color

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Skou, AM.T., Toneatto, F. & Kollmann, J. Are plant populations in expanding ranges made up of escaped cultivars? The case of Ilex aquifolium in Denmark. Plant Ecol 213, 1131–1144 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-012-0071-z

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