The Meuse river as a corridor for range expansion of the exotic plant species Sisymbrium austriacum: evidence for long-distance seed dispersal

Riparian habitats are particularly prone to invasion of non-indigenous plant species and several species have been shown to rapidly expand their range along river networks, possibly mediated by the occurrence of frequent long-distance seed dispersal events. However, there is still relatively little empirical evidence for long-distance seed dispersal along river networks and most studies to date are inconclusive with regards to the direction (upstream vs. downstream) of seed movement. Using assignment analyses based on dominant AFLP markers, we provide empirical evidence that downstream long-distance seed dispersal has facilitated range expansion of the exotic plant Sisymbrium austriacum along the Meuse River. Of 242 sampled individuals, 13 (5.4%) were allocated to a population other than the one from which it was sampled. Of these, nine (3.7%) individuals were assigned to a known population within the area, the furthest being more than 20 km away from the population from which it was sampled. All putative source populations were located upstream, thus providing strong evidence for downstream migration of propagules. These results support the general view that river systems may serve as efficient transport vectors of plant species and thus may play an important role in increasing the spatial spread and range expansion of exotic plant species.