Student’s view - Plant Ecology and Phytochemistry
- Stopping the invader!
In the first year of my master I decided to do an internship in the Plant Ecology and Phytochemistry Group of the IBL. Together with my two supervisors, Leonie Doorduin and Klaas Vrieling, I studied the invasive plant species Jacobaea vulgaris. Could I find out the reason of its invasive success?
Tansy ragwort, as the plant is also called, is native to Eurasia. At the end of the nineteenth century it was introduced in North America, Australia and New Zealand. There the plant has become a pest. The plant is toxic and poses a threat to cattle, which can even die as a result of eating it. One explanation for the success of tansy ragwort is that it might have been released from specialized soil biota that were keeping it under control in the native range.
During my internship I grew tansy ragwort on soils from Europe, New Zealand, North America and Australia. Using sterilized and non-sterilized soil we could find out what the influence was of the organisms in the soil. After several weeks of growing we harvested the plants to look at the differences in growth on the different soils. We showed that release from specialized soil biota could well be an important reason for why tansy ragwort is so successful outside Europe!
My internship gave me a good picture on how research works. I got to do a variety of work, from labwork, analysis of the data, potting and growing plants to presenting and writing. All in all it was a very instructive and interesting experience!
Michiel Hooykaas
