Background and Aims
The invasion of alien plant species poses a threat to native community’s composition and diversity. However, the invasiveness of alien plants and invasibility of native communities should be depended on the interactions between biotic and abiotic factors, such as natural enemies and soil nutrient availability.
Methods
We simulated the invasion of nine invasive plants into native plant communities with two levels of soil nutrient availability and natural enemies suppression. We explored how the biotic and abiotic factors affect the response of alien target species and the resistance of native communities to invasion.
Results
Enemy release (i.e., presence of enemy) increased biomass proportion of alien plants and decreased that of native community under without nutrient addition. Furthermore, the negative effect of enemy suppression on the evenness of native community and the root-to-shoot ratio of alien target species was greatest under nutrient addition.
Conclusion
Soil nutrient deficiency and natural enemies might promote the invasive success of alien species in native community, whereas nutrient addition and enemy suppression can better enhance the resistance of native plant communities to invasion.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.