Curvilinear Effects of Invasive Plants on Plant Diversity: Plant Community Invaded by Sphagneticola trilobata

Abstract

The effects of invasive plants on the species diversity of plant communities are controversial, showing either a positive or negative linear relationship. Based on community data collected from forty 5 m×5 m plots invaded by Sphagneticola trilobata in eight cities across Hainan Island, China, we found S. trilobata decreased plant community diversity once its cover was beyond 10%. We demonstrated that the effects of invasive/native plants on the plant diversity of communities invaded by S. trilobata were curvilinear. These effects, which showed peaks under different degrees of vegetation cover, appeared not only for S. trilobata and all invasive plants, but also for all native plants. Invasive plants primarily had negative effects on plant diversity when they became abundant at a much lower cover level (less than 35%), compared with the native plants (over 60%). Thus, it is necessary to distinguish a range for assessing the effects of plants, especially invasive plants. Our results also confirmed that the invasion intensity of invasive alien plants increased with the intensity of local economic development. We highlight and further discuss the critical importance of curvilinear effects of biological invasion to provide ideas regarding the conservation of local biodiversity and the management of invasive plants.

How Will Global Environmental Changes Affect the Growth of Alien Plants?

“…Some species have since become invasive and spread rapidly, thereby exerting a negative impact on native biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services (Vila et al, 2011; Qi et al, 2014; Gallardo et al, 2016). Plant invasion is predicted to increase with human globalization (Seebens et al, 2015; van Kleunen et al, 2015).…”

Isolation of NBS-LRR RGAs from invasive Wedelia trilobata and the calculation of evolutionary rates to understand bioinvasion from a molecular evolution perspective

“…W. trilobata was successfully introduced into many Pacific Islands as an attractive and easy-to-maintain ground cover, and readily escaped from cultivated fields (Si et al, 2014). It was first introduced into Hong Kong, China in the 1970s (Huang et al, 2003) and was also generally used as a ground cover in South China, however, due to its powerful capacity of expansion, W. trilobata often overgrows into thick ground cover, crowding out and preventing the regeneration of other plant species (Song et al, 2010), resulting in the homogenization of the biota in all ecosystems (Qi et al, 2014b). W. trilobata has become one of the most noxious weeds in China and has even been nominated as one of the top 100 of the World's Worst Invaders (IUCN, 2010).…”

From individuals to communities: How singleton invasive pine saplings lead to biodiversity change in the Brazilian Cerrado hotspot

“…We know from recent research (Dornelas et al., ; Magurran, Dornelas, Moyes, Gotelli, & McGill, ) that assemblages worldwide are experiencing unprecedented levels of temporal turnover. Invasive species, thought to be a major contributor to this elevated turnover, are the subject of growing concern (Carboni et al., ; Chytrý et al., ; Didham, Tylianakis, Gemmell, Rand, & Ewers, ; Dong, Yu, & He, ; Ehrenfeld, ; Kolar & Lodge, ; Levine et al., ; Ortega & Pearson, ; Qi et al., ; Simberloff et al., ; Vilà et al., ). As such, the quest to deepen understanding of the process by which new species become incorporated in existing assemblages is both topical and important.…”

“…We already know that invasive species drive biodiversity change (Dornelas et al., ; Simberloff et al., ), including biotic homogenization (Magurran et al., ), and lead to loss of function (Levine et al., ) and the loss of keystone species (Pyšek & Richardson, ). These changes are particularly dramatic when large populations of exotics have become established (Qi et al., ; Vilà et al., ). Parker et al.…”

“…We already know that invasive species drive biodiversity change Simberloff et al, 2013), including biotic homogenization (Magurran et al, 2015), and lead to loss of function (Levine et al, 2003) and the loss of keystone species (Pyšek & Richardson, 2010). These changes are particularly dramatic when large populations of exotics have become established (Qi et al, 2014;Vilà et al, 2011). Parker et al (1999) conceptualized that the impact caused by invasive species is a product of three of their attributes: the range size (R, in m²), its average abundance per unit area (A, e.g.…”