Understanding how widespread species adapt to variation in abiotic conditions across their ranges is fundamental to ecology. Insight may come from studying how among-population variation (APV) in the common garden corresponds with the environmental conditions of source populations. However, there are no such studies comparing native vs non-native populations across multiple life stages. We examined APV in the performance and functional traits of 59 Conyza canadensis populations, in response to drought, across large aridity gradients in the native (North America) and non-native (Eurasia) ranges in three experiments. Our treatment (dry vs wet) was applied at the recruitment, juvenile, and adult life stages. We found contrasting patterns of APV in drought responses between the two ranges. In the native range, plant performance was less reduced by drought in populations from xeric than mesic habitats, but such relationship was not apparent for non-native populations. These range-specific patterns were consistent across the life stages. The weak adaptive responses of non-native populations indicate that they can become highly abundant even without complete local adaptation to abiotic environments and suggest that long-established invaders may still be evolving to the abiotic environment. These findings may explain lag times in invasions and raise concern about future expansions.

Agronomy Department University of Florida Gainesville FL 32611 USA

Bioscience and Biotechnology Fukui Prefectural University Fukui 910 1195 Japan

Centre for Forest Research and Institute for Integrative and Systems Biology Université Laval Quebec QC G1V0A6 Canada

College of Forestry Northwest A and F University Yangling Shaanxi 712100 China

Department of Biological Sciences Montana Technological University Butte MT 59701 USA

Department of Biology and Environmental Science Auburn University at Montgomery Montgomery AL 36124 USA

Department of Botany University of Kashmir Srinagar Jammu and Kashmir 190006 India

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Colorado Boulder CO 80309 USA

Department of Ecology Evolution and Natural Resources Rutgers University New Brunswick NJ 08901 USA

Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences W A Franke College of Forestry and Conservation University of Montana Missoula MT 59812 USA

Department of Plant Production Faculty of Agriculture Jordan University of Science and Technology Irbid 22110 Jordan

Division of Biological Sciences University of Montana Missoula MT 59812 USA

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle Jena Leipzig Leipzig 04103 Germany

Institute for Environmental Studies Faculty of Science Charles University Prague CZ 12801 Czech Republic

Institute of Biology Geobotany and Botanical Garden Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg Halle 06108 Germany

Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources Hellenic Agricultural Organization Demeter Thessaloniki 57001 Greece

MPG Ranch Missoula Florence MT 59833 USA

School of Biology Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Thessaloniki 54124 Greece

Thünen Institute of Biodiversity Braunschweig 38116 Germany

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