Contrasting spatio‐temporal climatic niche dynamics during the eastern and western invasions of spotted knapweed in North America

Abstract Aim The spotted knapweed ( Centaurea stoebe ), a plant native to south‐east and central Europe, is highly invasive in North America. We investigated the spatio‐temporal climatic niche dynamics of the spotted knapweed in North America along two putative eastern and western invasion routes. We then considered the patterns observed in the light of historical, ecological and evolutionary factors. Location Europe and North America. Methods The niche characteristics of the east and west invasive populations of spotted knapweed in North America were determined from documented occurrences over 120 consecutive years (1890–2010). For this investigation, the 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles of values along temperature and precipitation gradients, as given by the two first axes of a principal components analysis ( PCA ), were calculated. We additionally measured the climatic dissimilarity between invaded sites and the native niche using a multivariate environmental similarity surface ( MESS ) analysis. Results Along both invasion routes, the species established in regions with climatic conditions that were similar to those in the native niche. An initial spread in ruderal habitats always preceded spread in (semi‐)natural habitats. In the east, the niche gradually increased over time until it reached limits similar to the native niche. Conversely, in the west the niche abruptly expanded after an extended time lag into climates not occupied in the native range; only the native cold niche limit was conserved. Main conclusions Our study reveals that different niche dynamics have taken place during the eastern and western invasions. This pattern indicates different combinations of historical, ecological and evolutionary factors in the two ranges. We hypothesize that the lack of a well‐developed transportation network in the west at the time of the introduction of spotted knapweed confined the species to a geographically and climatically isolated region. The invasion of dry rangelands may have been favoured during the agricultural transition in the 1930s by release from natural enemies, local adaptation and less competitive vegetation, but further experimental and molecular studies are needed to explain these contrasting niche patterns fully. Our study illustrates the need and benefit of applying large‐scale, temporally explicit approaches to understanding biological invasions.