Phenotypic plasticity is also important in the success of invasive species, because the more plastic a plant is the higher possibility that it can establish in new habitats (Richards et al., 2006). Phenotypic plasticity is the adaptability to environmental change (Via et al., 1995), and phenoplastic plants are able to acclimate in morphological or physiological traits to changes in environmental conditions, e.g. temperature and light (Schlichting, 1986). Hence as temperature and light change with habitats these parameters can be important to the establishment of invasive plants in new habitats.
Therefore we can expect that more phenoplastic plants with a broader tolerance range are more competitive in establishing in new habitats.
In this paper we present a study on the effect of temperature and light availability on the initial establishment in terms
of growth rate, photosynthesis and morphology of three invasive aquatic plants in order to assess their interspecific competition. The overall objective of our study was to determine the effects of summer temperature and light availability on the establishment success of plant fragments in three invasive aquatic plants and to assess their phenotypic plasticity. Based on these results we will compare the competitive ability of the three species following establishment from shoots fragments. The experiment was carried out in outdoor growth tanks, with temperatures that represent summer mean water temperature in different climate zones, and light availabilities to represent shallow and deeper part of
lakes.