Phenotypic variation and plasticity in the colonizing species xanthium strumarium L. (noogoora burr)

Abstract

Levels of genotypic (σG2) and environmentally induced (σE2) variation for 15 quantitative characters were estimated in seven populations of the four naturalized races of X. strumarium in Australia. Estimates of σG2 indicated that populations of X. strumarium were often genetically variable for quantitative traits. However, for the majority of the characters studied, σE2 was a larger component of the total phenotypic variation than was σG2, indicating that phenotypic plasticity is the major mode of adaptation of this species to variable and varying environments. Few significant differences were found among the races, or among populations within a race, in either σG2 or σE2. This suggests that marked differences in colonizing ability of the four races of X. strumarium are probably not.due to differences in phenotypic plasticity (individual buffering) or genotypic variation (populational buffering) but to differences in such factors as their reproductive strategies and photoperiodic requirements for flowering. © 1981 ASEG.