Trait differentiation across urbanized environments in invasive Centaurea melitensis is not predicted by the Plant Economic Spectrum

In the invasive annual plant Centaurea melitensis, genetically based trait differentiation across California Environmental Zones is linked to urban features, but it is not organized into Plant Economic Spectrum multi-trait strategies.

• Why it matters: Urban selection likely varies across cities, yet it is rarely tested whether specific urban environmental heterogeneity predicts coordinated trait adaptation.
• What they did: Seeds from 31 California populations were grown for two greenhouse generations, and in generation two growth, reproductive, and phenology traits were measured and tested against PES-predicted multivariate axes and urban Environmental Zone variables.
• The result: Trait variation across genotypes was not structured along PES multivariate axes; some individual traits related to impervious surface cover and tree cover, but multi-trait PES strategies were absent, implying PES does not predict coordinated adaptation here.

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