{"id":3458,"date":"2021-05-03T13:09:55","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T11:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/?p=3458"},"modified":"2021-05-03T13:28:28","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T11:28:28","slug":"taxonomy-and-introduction-histories-of-non-native-prosopis-populations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/taxonomy-and-introduction-histories-of-non-native-prosopis-populations\/","title":{"rendered":"Taxonomy and introduction histories of non-native Prosopis populations for their effective management"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trees in the genus Prosopis<\/em> (known as mesquite) have been widely planted outside of their native ranges in many countries, and many species are now among the world\u2019s worst woody invasives. The genus contains 44 species from the Americas, South West Asia and North Africa, and several have become major problems in South and East Africa. Their management is complicated by the fact that they are all closely related, and many species are able to hybridise freely.<\/p>\n

As part of an international team, Dr. Mar\u00eda Loreto Castillo (C\u00b7I\u00b7B PhD graduate), Prof. Jaco Le Roux (C\u00b7I\u00b7B Research Associate) and Prof. Brian van Wilgen (C\u00b7I\u00b7B Core Team Member), conducted a genetic study on several Prosopis<\/em> species from within their native ranges and from specimens in their introduced ranges. The study intended to assess the degree of genetic diversity, differentiation and structure within the genus, and to evaluate the extent of interspecific hybridisation, and the consequences for invasive potential, with a special focus on non-native populations of P. juliflora<\/em> and P. pallida<\/em> in eastern Africa.<\/p>\n

The highly invasive tetraploid species, P. <\/em>juliflora <\/em>was found to be differentiated from all other diploid Prosopis <\/em>species analysed, a likely consequence of historical reproductive isolation due to genomic incompatibilities.<\/p>\n

In contrast, most diploid Prosopis <\/em>species showed low genetic differentiation, supporting the notion that these species often hybridise when co-introduced into new environments. Such hybridisation between different Prosopis <\/em>species further complicates the taxonomic uncertainty of the group.<\/p>\n

Two species, P. juliflora <\/em>and P. pallida<\/em>, were found to have been introduced into eastern Africa, but only P. juliflora<\/em> became invasive. Interestingly, these two species also hybridise, but no evidence was found that hybrids became invasive. In contrast with other areas like in Australia and South Africa, where invasive Prosopis<\/em> populations mainly consist of hybrids, only P. juliflora<\/em> is invasive in eastern Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur results beg the question of whether biological control agents that have been developed for diploid Prosopis species will perform differently on polyploid P. juliflora in eastern Africa<\/em>.\u201d said Maria Loreto Castillo, lead author of the paper published in AoB PLANTS<\/em><\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Regarding their finding of a lack of genetic differentiation between diploid species Castillo says, \u201cWe strongly believe that all invasive diploid Prosopis species should be considered a single taxonomic unit<\/em>,\u201d adding that \u201cThis is especially important when developing regulations related to the management of invasive Prosopis<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Members
Members of the research team during a fieldwork expedition in Ethiopia. From the left is Prof. Brian van Wilgen (C\u00b7I\u00b7B Core Team Member), Prof. Jaco Le Roux (C\u00b7I\u00b7B Research Associate) and Dr. Mar\u00eda Loreto Castillo (C\u00b7I\u00b7B PhD graduate). (Photo provided by Prof. Brian van Wilgen)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Read the full paper<\/h4>\n

Castillo, M. L., Schaffner, U., van Wilgen, B. W., Monta\u00f1o, N. M., Bustamante, R. O., Cosacov, A., Mathese, M. J., & Le Roux, J. J. (2021). Genetic insights into the globally invasive and taxonomically problematic tree genus Prosopis<\/em>. AoB PLANTS<\/em>, 13<\/em>(plaa069), 1\u201313. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/aobpla\/plaa069<\/a><\/p>\n

For more information, contact Mar\u00eda Loreto Castillo at mloretocastillo@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trees in the genus Prosopis (known as mesquite) have been widely planted outside of their native ranges in many countries, and many species are now among the world\u2019s worst woody invasives. The genus contains 44 species from the Americas, South West Asia and North Africa, and several have become major problems in South and East Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":3459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[76019,3256],"tags":[72968,71677,71830,71746,73286,71823,72712,76047,64264],"class_list":["post-3458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-76019","category-news","tag-eastern-africa","tag-genetic-diversity","tag-hybridization","tag-invasive-alien-species","tag-mesquite","tag-microsatellites","tag-polyploidy","tag-taxonomic-uncertainty","tag-tree-invasions","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3458"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3464,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3458\/revisions\/3464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3458"}],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