Two sides of the same coin: Does alien Impatiens balfourii fall into an ecological trap after releasing from enemies?

摘要

The evolution of increased competitive ability (EICA) hypothesis assumes that recently introduced populations of alien species are under low pressure from enemies, which allows them to reduce investment into defence and re-allocate the saved resources into the improvement of characteristics related to competitive abilities. We performed EICA tests to check if the low dispersal potential of Impatiens balfourii in Europe results from a limited evolution of its capability to release from enemies or from the low phenotypic plasticity of this trait.