1. EICA Hypothesis Literature Review Kelly Moffett, Lindsey Youngman, Taylor Arsenault, Ryan Crawford

2. EICA “Evolution of increased competitive ability in invasive nonindigenous plants: a hypothesis” by Bernd Blossey and Rolf Notzold 1995

3. Our Hypothesis EICA: Evolution of Increased Competitive Ability 1.Optimal Defense 2.Specialized Herbivore Performance

4. Hypothesis Background What is the EICA hypothesis? Simply put: -Without native predators, introduced plants are able to reallocate defense mechanism resources and focus on their growth and development Specialized Herbivores will perform better because the plants have limited defense.

5. EICA in Invasive Nonindigenous Plants Lythrum salicaria -Seeds collected from native and invaded environments -Herbivorous insects tested Blossey, Notzfold, 1995

6. Evolution of Increased Competitive Ability in Invasive Nonindigenous Plants Was the EICA hypothesis supported?

7. Methods for Our Research Collected data from various articles using Google Scholar, Web of Science, UMass Library Databases

8. Results Overall, support for the hypothesis was strong Literature Support

9. Alternate Findings “No evidence for an ‘evolution of increased competitive ability’ for the invasive Lepidium draba” Cripps et al. 2008 All plant traits greater in native plants Proposition?

10. Final Thoughts Can generalizations be made?

11. References Joshi, J. and Vrieling, K. (2005), The enemy release and EICA hypothesis revisited: incorporating the fundamental difference between specialist and generalist herbivores. Ecology Letters, 8: 704–714. doi: 10.1111/j.1461- 0248.2005.00769.x Bossdorf, O., Prati, D., Auge, H. and Schmid, B. (2004), Reduced competitive ability in an invasive plant. Ecology Letters, 7: 346–353. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00583.x Fukano, Y., & Tetsukazu, Y. (2012). Changes in Defense of an Alien Plant Ambrosia artemisiifolia before and after the Invasion of a Native Specialist Enemy Ophraella communa. MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES, 7(11). Retrieved October 16, 2014, from http://apps.webofknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=Refine&qid=10&SID=4DOmUeua3qHke SwQGa1&page=1&doc=6# http://apps.webofknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=Refine&qid=10&SID=4DOmUeua3qHke SwQGa1&page=1&doc=6# "EICA Hypothesis." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Aug. 2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. Validity checked with cited information on Wiki