Effects of Soil Resources on Plant Invasion and Community Structure in Californian Serpentine Grassland

Huenneke, Laura Foster; Hamburg, Steven P.; Koide, Roger T.; Mooney, Harold A.; Vitousek, Peter M.

doi:10.2307/1940302

Cited by 691 publications

(618 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

557

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In fact, the other resources, when added individually, had no eVect on invader performance. These results are consistent with those of other studies, which have shown that fertilization increases the invasibility of serpentine grasslands (Turitzin 1982;Huenneke et al 1990;O'Dell and Claassen 2006). The serpentine outcrops in this All N P H20 Ca study were not only lower in N availability, but were also drier and considerably lower in Ca and Ca:Mg ratios than soils in the surrounding matrix (e.g., Huenneke et al 1990;Harrison 1999;Gram et al 2004).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…These results are consistent with those of other studies, which have shown that fertilization increases the invasibility of serpentine grasslands (Turitzin 1982;Huenneke et al 1990;O'Dell and Claassen 2006). The serpentine outcrops in this All N P H20 Ca study were not only lower in N availability, but were also drier and considerably lower in Ca and Ca:Mg ratios than soils in the surrounding matrix (e.g., Huenneke et al 1990;Harrison 1999;Gram et al 2004). However, our results suggest that it is the low N, or low N in combination with other resources that primarily limits the invasion of three invasive grasses, suggesting that metal toxicity is not the primary factor limiting the invasions of these serpentine grasslands by exotic annual grasses.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Nutrient additions were modiWed from Huenneke et al (1990) and were supplied in two equal applications in early December and early March. For the H 2 O addition treatment we added 2.5 l of H 2 O (corresponding to 2.5 cm of rainfall) to plots 6 times in between rain events, supplementing the 65.3 cm of natural rainfall by an additional 16.5 cm.…”

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, they are an ideal environment in which to examine the relative roles and interaction of biotic and abiotic resistance. In addition, the role of resource limitation in constraining grass invasion of these habitats is established (Huenneke et al 1990), setting the stage to examine interactions between abiotic and biotic resistance. In general, serpentine soil is high in Mg, Fe minerals, and heavy metals, and low in Ca, N, and P (Kruckeberg 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Abiotic and biotic resistance to grass invasion in serpentine annual plant communities

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biological invasions severely impact native plant communities, causing dramatic shifts in species composition and the restriction of native species to spatially isolated refuges. Competition from resident species and the interaction between resource limitation and competition have been overlooked as mechanisms of community resistance in refugia habitats. We examined the importance of these factors in determining the resistance of California serpentine plant communities to invasion by three common European grasses, Avena barbata, Bromus diandrus, and Hordeum murinum. We added seeds of each of these grasses to plots subjected to six levels of resource addition (N, P, Ca, H 2 O, all resources together, and a no-addition control) and two levels of competition (with resident community present or removed). Resource limitation and competition had strong eVects on the biomass and reproduction of the three invaders. The addition of all resources together combined with the removal of the resident community yielded individual plants that were fourfold to 20-fold larger and sixfold to 20-fold more fecund than plants from control plots. Competitor removal alone yielded invaders that were twofold to sevenfold larger and twofold to ninefold more fecund. N addition alone or in combination with other resources led to a twofold to ninefold increase in the biomass and fecundity of the invaders. No other resource alone signiWcantly aVected native or invader performance, suggesting that N was the key limiting resource during our experiment. We found a signiWcant interaction between abiotic and biotic resistance for Bromus, which experienced increased competitive suppression in fertilized plots. The threefold increase in resident biomass with N addition was likely responsible for this result. Our results conWrm that serpentine plant communities are severely N limited, which, in combination with competition from resident species, promotes the resistance of these systems to invasions. Our work suggests that better understanding the relative sensitivities of invaders and residents to the physical environment is critical to predicting how abiotic and biotic factors interact to determine community resistance.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Abiotic and biotic resistance to grass invasion in serpentine annual plant communities

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, an undesired effect can occur, where a fertilizer can increase competition between desirable and weedy plant species (Pyšek and Leps 1991). In some cases, fertilization has led to declines in species richness on a site, specifically native species, due to suppression of native forbs from an increase in non-native species cover (Buckley and Catford 2016;Huenneke et al 1990). Non-native species are of concern on reclamation sites since they are initially unoccupied.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growth and competition among understory plants varies with reclamation soil and fertilization

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction: Following oil sands mining in Alberta, Canada, the main land management goal is to establish a functioning boreal forest ecosystem, including the understory plant community. One of the challenges with restoring the understory is the presence of non-native species that compete with desirable native species for resources. In a greenhouse experiment, we studied the growth of two native understory species (Galium boreale and Vicia americana) and a non-native invasive species (Matricaria perforata) grown with either intra-or interspecific neighbors across three common land reclamation soils and a nitrogen fertilizer treatment. Results: When grown by itself, V. americana aboveground biomass did not differ among soil or fertilizer treatments, likely due to its ability to fix nitrogen. Growth of M. perforata was directly related to soil nitrogen, and it had the greatest increase in biomass with fertilization. Growth and biomass of G. boreale was less than the other species, and it had the highest mortality in the nitrogen-poor soil. When grown together, the proportional biomass of M. perforata and V. americana varied with soil treatment such that M. perforata was dominant in the high-nitrogen forest floormineral mix treatment while V. americana was dominant in the low-nitrogen peat-mineral mix. Conclusions: Operationally, care should be taken when applying fertilizer to reclamation areas, as it may have an unwanted positive effect on growth for undesirable non-native plants at the expense of native species. In terms of seed mixtures, V. americana may be a good option for low inorganic nitrogen resource soils and G. boreale for high nitrogen resource soils.

show abstract

Stability of grassland soil C and N pools despite 25 years of an extreme climatic and disturbance regime

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Global changes are altering many important drivers of ecosystem functioning, with precipitation amount and disturbance frequency being especially important. Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools are key contemporary attributes of ecosystems that can also influence future C uptake via plant growth. Thus, understanding the impacts of altered precipitation amounts (through controls of primary production inputs) and disturbance regimes (through losses of C and N in biomass) is important to project how ecosystem services will respond to future global changes. A major difficulty inherent within this task is that drivers of ecosystem function and processes often interact, resulting in novel ecosystem responses. To examine how changes in precipitation affect grassland ecosystem responses under a frequent disturbance regime (annual fire), we assessed the biogeochemical and ecological consequences of more than two decades of irrigation in an annually burned mesic grassland in the central United States. In this experiment, precipitation amount was increased by 31% relative to ambient and 1 in 3 years were statistically extreme relative to the long‐term historical record. Despite evidence that irrigation decreased root:shoot ratios and increased rates of N cycling—each expected to reduce soil C and N with annual burning—we detected no changes in these biogeochemical pools. This surprising biogeochemical resistance highlights the need to explore additional mechanisms within long‐term experiments concerning the consequences of global change impacts on ecosystems.

show abstract

Effects of Soil Resources on Plant Invasion and Community Structure in Californian Serpentine Grassland

Cited by 691 publications

References 34 publications

Abiotic and biotic resistance to grass invasion in serpentine annual plant communities

Abiotic and biotic resistance to grass invasion in serpentine annual plant communities

Growth and competition among understory plants varies with reclamation soil and fertilization

Stability of grassland soil C and N pools despite 25 years of an extreme climatic and disturbance regime

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About