Project: A test for a cost of opportunism in invasive species in the Commelinaceae "People: Jean H. Burns, Stacey L. Halpern, Alice A. Winn" Variable Definition Quality "Environmental quality treatment: Plants in the high-quality environment received ample water (the soil was kept damp, and plants were not allowed to wilt) and were fertilized approximately every 3 weeks at the recommended application rate (Peters special 20-20-20 at 2.4 g/l). Plants in the low-quality environment were watered only after they appeared stressed (i.e., wilted) and were not fertilized at all." Clipping "Clipping treatment: After the plants had grown for 23Ð30 d in the high-quality environment and 45Ð47 d in the lowquality environment, we clipped off and removed all aboveground biomass except the two most basal leaves from plants in the clipping treatments. This treatment was imposed by clipping the main stem of each individual just above the two most basal leaves with scissors. In all cases, clipping was not imposed until more than two leaves were available to clip. Because plants grew at different rates, depending on species and environment, we imposed the clipping treatment at different times for different pairs of congeners in different treatments and harvested the highquality treatment before the low-quality treatment." Species Species identity Invasive Invasive status Pair Congeneric pair Block "Blocking in the greenhouse, to control for spatial variance" Comments Any comments on the plant in this pot Cutting_Length "The length of the initial cutting in mm, planted at the beginning of the experiment and used to control for initial size." Length1 Initial length in mm of leaf 1 for the cutting Width1 initial width in mm of leaf 1 for the cutting Length2 Initial length in mm of leaf 2 for the cutting Width2 initial width in mm of leaf 2 for the cutting Estimated_Initial_Cutting_Weight "estimated initial clipping size in grams, based on a regression of leaf length and width for both leaves against cutting weight: Initial cutting mass was estimated from regressions of cutting dry biomass on linear measurements of cutting size (cutting length and leaf width and length for each of 2 leaves) for 30 cuttings per species." Leaf_Length leaf length in mm for the leaf harvested for SLA Leaf_Width leaf width in mm for the leaf harvested for SLA Leaf_Area leaf area in cm^2 for the leaf harvested for SLA Leaf_Weight leaf weight in grams for the leaf harvested for SLA Leaf_Toughness "leaf toughness in g: We used a penetrometer to measure leaf toughness as the mass of sand necessary to push a nail through the leaf (Feeny 1970)." SLA "specific leaf area in cm^2 per gram of dry leaf tissue:To determine SLA and leaf size for all plants, we collected the most recent fully expanded leaf from each individual regardless of treatment at the time when clipping was imposed. After measuring leaf area with a leaf-area meter (CI-201, CID, Inc., 4845 NW Camas Meadows Drive, Camas, WA, USA), we dried and weighed individual leaves." clipped_wt "the amount of vegetative biomass, in grams, removed in the implementation of the clipping treatment" repro_wt "the amount of reproductive biomass, in grams, removed in the implementation of the clipping treatment" Total_Clipped_Biomass "the amount of total biomass, in grams, removed in the implementation of the clipping treatment" reproductive/shoot_clipped_biomass the ratio of reproductive biomass to vegetative biomass in the clipped tissue clip_date the date the clipping treatment was implemented. Varied because of differences in growth rate Final_Shoot_Weight the final biomass in g for vegetative material Final_Root_Weight the final biomass in g for roots Final_Reproductive_Weight the final biomass in g for reproductive material Final_Total_Weight "the final total harvested biomass, in grams" Leaf_Number the number of leaves at harvest Branch_Number the number of branches at harvest Mortality_Date "the date the plant died, if it died during the experiment" Days_Surviving the number of days the plant survived. censused at the end of the experiment Dead a categorical variable. whether or not the plant died. NumNodes the number of vegetative nodes on the plant at harvest nodes_per_gr "the number of nodes, standardized by the grams of plant material at harvest" Total_Weight(Including_clipped "the total weight in grams of the plant harvested during the experiment, including final biomass and clipped biomass" Biomass_produced_post-clipping-Initial_Cutting_size the difference between biomass in grams produced post clipping and (estimated) initial clipping size RGR RGR is the difference between the natural log of final total biomass and the natural log o finitial biomass divided by the number of days the plant grew. Root:Shoot The ratio of biomass in roots (in grams) divided by biomass in shoots (in grams)