Disturbance is one of the most important factors promoting exotic invasion. However, if disturbance per se is sufficient to explain exotic success, then "invasion" abroad should not differ from "colonization" at home. Comparisons of the effects of disturbance on organisms in their native and introduced ranges are crucial to elucidate whether this is the case; however, such comparisons have not ...

Yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis L.) (YST) is an important invasive plant that infests millions of hectares in the western USA and Canada. Isolates of the exotic rust fungus Puccinia jaceae have been evaluated as a potential biological control for YST. The objectives of this study were to characterize isolates of P. jaceae by amplified fragment length polymorphic (AFLP) DNA analysis a...

The effects of declining plant biodiversity on ecosystem processes are well studied, with most investigations examining the role of species richness declines rather than declines of species abundance. Using grassland mesocosms, we examined how the abundance of a native, resident species, Hemizonia congesta (hayfield tarweed), affected exotic Centaurea solstitialis (yellow starthistle) invasion....

To resist establishment by an invasive plant, a community may require one or more species functionally similar to the invader in their resource acquisition pattern. In this study, communities consisting of native winter annual forbs, non-native annual grasses, native perennials, or a combination of the two native communities were established with and without Centaurea solstitialis to determine ...

These paper deals with 45 taxa, seven of which are new to the Balearic Islands flora: Agrostis capillaris L., Centaurea solstitialis L. Chenopodium strictum Roth, Datura wrigthii Regel, Kickxia elatine (L.) Dumort. subsp. elatine, Ranunculus xatardii Lapeyr. and Senecio inaequidens DC. On the other hand, six taxa [Catananche caerulea L., Centaurea apula Lam., Filago micropodioides Lange, Legous...

Russian knapweed (Acroptilon repens [L.] DC.) and yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis L.) are invasive weeds in the western United States, and both weeds are targeted for biological control. Cercosporella acroptili (Bremer) U. Braun was identified as a possible biological control agent for A. repens, and a morphologically similar Cercosporella sp. recently was found damaging to C. solsti...

The ecological benefits of a roadside native perennial grass stand are :ompromised when invasive species become estab· lished. We evaluated the potential to regenerate existing native perennial grass stand5 populat~d with yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) on a roadside planting in the lowland hills of t1e interior Coast Range of northern California. The experiment was designed to dete...

Centaurea solstitialis L. (yellow starthistle, Asteraceae) is a Eurasian native plant introduced as an exotic into North and South America, and Australia, where it is regarded as a noxious invasive. Changes in ploidy level have been found to be responsible for numerous plant biological invasions, as they are involved in trait shifts critical to invasive success, like increased growth rate and b...