Baker’s Law

Read more about the article The role of self-pollination in plant invasion
The hawk moth Agrius convolvuli pollinating the Taiwanese lily species Lilium formosanum. (Photo credit: Steve Johnson)
2013 / Highlighted papers

The role of self-pollination in plant invasion

Plants that can self-fertilise are more likely to become invasive than those that cannot and among invasive plants, those that can self-fertilise have invaded larger areas. While this is intuitive, it has not yet been shown that this is a causal relationship, as many introduced plants receive visits from pollinators in the novel range.

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13 May 2013
Read more about the article Facilitation of invasions by widespread pollinators
Specialised plants need not necessarily find the exact same pollinator species in the novel range as pollinators are often functionally equivalent from the plant’s point of view. Nicotiana glauca is specialised for hummingbird pollination in Argentina but has recruited sunbirds to pollinate it in South Africa (photo E). Hummingbirds and sunbirds both belong to a functional group of specialist nectar feeding bird pollinators. Similar examples exist for other pollinator functional groups. Stapelia gigantea, native to South Africa where it is pollinated by carrion flies (photo A), is invasive in Venezuela by virtue of pollination by indigenous carrion flies (photo B, taken in Cerro Seroche National Park, Venezuela); Gomphocarpus physocarpus is pollinated by paper wasps (Vespidae) in its native range in South Africa (photo C) and in Australia where it is invasive (Photo D) and the buzz-pollinated Senna didymobotrya from West Africa is pollinated by carpenter bees (Xylocopa, Apidae) in South Africa (photo F). Photo credits: A, C, & F by SD Johnson, B by I. Herrera, D by M. Ward and E by S. Geerts.
2010 / Highlighted papers

Facilitation of invasions by widespread pollinators

It’s an old idea that plants that are specialised for particular pollinators should become invasive less often than those which can be pollinated by a broad range of animal species. Most plant species will not encounter their original pollinators when introduced elsewhere so to reproduce in their novel range they will have to recruit novel pollinators.

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4 October 2010