Invasive plants escape from suppressive soil biota at regional scales

Abstract

Summary 1.A prominent hypothesis for plant invasions is escape from the inhibitory effects of soil biota. Although the strength of these inhibitory effects, measured as soil feedbacks, has been assessed between natives and exotics in non-native ranges, few studies have compared the strength of plantsoil feedbacks for exotic species in soils from non-native versus native ranges. 2. We examined whether 6 perennial European forb species that are widespread invaders in North American grasslands (Centaurea stoebe, Euphorbia esula, Hypericum perforatum, Linaria vulgaris, Potentilla recta and Leucanthemum vulgare) experienced different suppressive effects of soil biota collected from 21 sites across both ranges. 3. Four of the six species tested exhibited substantially reduced shoot biomass in 'live' versus sterile soil from Europe. In contrast, North American soils produced no significant feedbacks on any of the invasive species tested indicating a broad scale escape from the inhibitory effects of soil biota. 4. Negative feedbacks generated by European soil varied idiosyncratically among sites and species. Since this variation did not correspond with the presence of the target species at field sites, it suggests that negative feedbacks can be generated from soil biota that are widely distributed in native ranges in the absence of density-dependent effects. 5. Synthesis. Our results show that for some invasives, native soils have strong suppressive potential, whereas this is not the case in soils from across the introduced range. Differences in regional-scale evolutionary history among plants and soil biota could ultimately help explain why some exotics are able to occur at higher abundance in the introduced versus native range.

Biogeographic effects on early establishment of an invasive alien plant

“…Several studies ( Callaway et al, 2004 ;Maron et al, 2014 ) have found different plant-soil feedback processes between C. stoebe and soil biota at home compared with its introduced North American range, suggesting that in the introduced range C. stoebe escapes at least partially from soil pathogens. However, we found good establishment of C. stoebe in the empty subplots, indicating that the presence of natural enemies, different soil pathogens, postintroduction evolution or seed quality are not the main factors contributing to the failure of establishment of C. stoebe in the mixed species assemblages at home, unless these factors differ fundamentally between the empty subplots and those with experimental plant assemblages.…”

How Initial Composition Affects the Later Development? - A Secondary Successional Study in Differently Managed Agricultural Sites

“…The presence or absence of certain soil biota can also explain why some exotic plant species are able to occur at higher abundance in the non-native versus native range. Maron et al, (2014) found that soils from the native range of some invasive plant species had a strong suppressive potential on these plants, whereas this is not the case in soils in the nonnative range. This suggests that different composition of soil community can strongly alter the structure of vegetation.…”

Do exotic plants lose resistance to pathogenic soil biota from their native range? A test with Solidago gigantea

“…bolstered by broad comparative studies showing that invasives support fewer pathogens than do natives (Mitchell and Power 2003;Mitchell et al 2010), as well as indications that some invasives suffer from strong negative soil feedbacks where they are native (Reinhart et al 2003;Zuppinger-Dingle et al 2011;Yang et al 2013;Maron et al 2014). It is further supported by research suggesting that invasives gain a competitive edge over natives as a result of this inequality in the strength of soil feedbacks (Reinhart and Callaway 2006;Petermann et al 2008).…”