Perennial Microstegium vimineum (Poaceae): An Apparent Misidentification?

Mehrhoff, L. J.

doi:10.2307/3088762

Cited by 26 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Human activity is likely responsible for intermediate-distance dispersal along roads and trails (Cole and Weltzin 2004;Rauschert et al 2010). Flooding and water flow paths that intersect a source population also have the potential to move propagules (Mehrhoff 2000;Miller and Matlack 2010;Warren et al 2011a). While increased deer density accelerates M. vimineum invasion by enhancing local site conditions through herbivory and litter disturbance (Eschtruth and Battles 2009a;Warren et al 2011a), strong evidence of animal dispersal does not exist (Mehrhoff 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Flooding and water flow paths that intersect a source population also have the potential to move propagules (Mehrhoff 2000;Miller and Matlack 2010;Warren et al 2011a). While increased deer density accelerates M. vimineum invasion by enhancing local site conditions through herbivory and litter disturbance (Eschtruth and Battles 2009a;Warren et al 2011a), strong evidence of animal dispersal does not exist (Mehrhoff 2000). The 3-km scale represents the average size of sub-populations and is likely to change over time as the invasive finds its way via intermediate-distance dispersal events to available and suitable locations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Predicting Microstegium vimineum invasion in natural plant communities of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains, USA

et al. 2012

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Shade-tolerant non-native invasive plant species may make deep incursions into natural plant communities, but detecting such species is challenging because occurrences are often sparse. We developed Bayesian models of the distribution of Microstegium vimineum in natural plant communities of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains, USA to address three objectives: (1) to assess local and landscape factors that influence the probability of presence of M. vimineum; (2) to quantify the spatial covariance error structure in occurrence that was not accounted for by the environmental variables; and (3) to synthesize our results with previous findings to make inference on the spatial attributes of the invasion process. Natural plant communities surrounded by areas with high human activity and low forest cover were at highest risk of M. vimineum invasion. The probability of M. vimineum presence also increased with increasing native species richness and soil pH, and decreasing basal area of ericaceous shrubs. After accounting for environmental covariates, evaluation of the spatial covariance error structure revealed that M. vimineum is invading the landscape by a hierarchical process. Infrequent longdistance dispersal events result in new nascent subpopulations that then spread via intermediate-and short-distance dispersal, resulting in 3-km spatial aggregation pattern of sub-populations. Containment or minimisation of its impact on native plant communities will be contingent on understanding how M. vimineum can be prevented from colonizing new suitable habitats. The hierarchical invasion process proposed here provides a framework to organise and focus research and management efforts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting Microstegium vimineum invasion in natural plant communities of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains, USA

et al. 2012

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“…M. vimineum seeds are typically dispersed by overland flow of water (Mehrhoff 2000). Several large rain events (up to 10 cm per day) had occurred during the previous 2 months, so physical dispersal of seeds by water had likely been accomplished.…”

Section: Post-dispersal Seedbank Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light limitation creates patchy distribution of an invasive grass in eastern deciduous forests

Cole

2005

Biol Invasions

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Species interactions and their indirect effects on the availability and distribution of resources have been considered strong determinants of community structure in many different ecological systems. In deciduous forests, the presence of overstory trees and shrubs creates a shifting mosaic of resources for understory plants, with implications for their distribution and abundance. Determination of the ultimate resource constraints on understory vegetation may aid management of these systems that have become increasingly susceptible to invasions by non-native plants. Microstegium vimineum (Japanese grass) is an invasive annual grass that has spread rapidly throughout the understory of forests across the eastern United States since it was first observed in Tennessee in 1919. M. vimineum occurs as extensive, dense patches in the understory of eastern deciduous forests, yet these patches often exhibit sharp boundaries and distinct gaps in cover. One example of this distributional pattern was observed relative to the native midstory tree Asimina triloba (pawpaw), whereby dense M. vimineum cover stopped abruptly at the drip line of the A. triloba patch and was absent beneath the A. triloba canopy. We conducted field and greenhouse experiments to test several hypotheses regarding the causes of this observed pattern of M. vimineum distribution, including allelopathy, seed dispersal, light limitations, and soil moisture, texture, and nutrient content. We concluded that light reduction by the A. triloba canopy was the environmental constraint that prevented establishment of M. vimineum beneath this tree. Whereas overstory tree canopy apparently facilitates the establishment of this shade-tolerant grass, the interaction of overstory canopy with midstory canopy interferes with M. vimineum by reducing the availability of sunflecks at the ground layer. It is likely that other midstory species influence the distribution and abundance of other herb-layer species, with implications for management of understory invasive plant species.Abbreviations: A. triloba -Asimina triloba; M. vimineum -Microstegium vimineum; PFD -photon flux density; TDR -time domain reflectometer; VWC -volumetric water content

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“…Microstegium vimineum often is associated with edge habitats and waterways Weltzin 2004, Christen andMatlack 2009), and this suggests that these habitats act as conduits for passive M. vimineum propagule dispersal (Mehrhoff 2000, Christen and Matlack 2009, Eschtruth and Battles 2009a. In September 2010, we located four M. vimineum patches in the southern Appalachian Mountains (North Carolina, USA).…”

Section: Microstegium Vimineum Passive Seed Dispersalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2), suggests these habitats are suitable for M. vimineum persistence, in addition to providing potential dispersal corridors (Mehrhoff 2000, Christen and Matlack 2009, Eschtruth and Battles 2009a). Yet, habitat associations cannot disentangle dispersal from niche limitations, and multiple environmental variables shift similarly along the transition from forest interior to edge to exterior.…”

Section: Habitat Distribution and Niche Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance and reproduction of an exotic invader across temperate forest gradients

et al. 2011

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Abstract. Widespread colonization by invasive species often obscures their underlying niche requirements. A robust inference into habitat requirements demands direct measures of invasive species performance linked with associated environmental conditions. In the context of general ecological theory, we investigated the niche requirements of Microstegium vimineum, an invasive grass in the U.S. that overruns native vegetation in forest understories. We examined M. vimineum's performance and reproduction as a function of environmental drivers across forested and unforested habitats along a 100-km regional and climatic gradient in the southeastern U.S. from the southern Appalachian Mountains to the Georgia piedmont. We then measured M. vimineum performance and reproduction in response to direct environmental drivers (diffuse light, litter cover, soil moisture, herbaceous cover, soil pH, clay content and temperature) in paired invaded and uninvaded plots. Lastly, we experimentally investigated recruitment in the context of experimental and natural disturbances. We find that all habitats are not equally suitable for M. vimineum-even those within which it occurs-and that the environmental conditions associated with roadsides and waterways are most suitable for M. vimineum persistence and spread. Microstegium vimineum's soil moisture, light and leaf litter requirements may delineate the boundaries of suitable habitat for the exotic invader. Significant decreases in M. vimineum recruitment, performance and reproduction along these environmental gradients suggest its potential niche limitations. Nevertheless, we also find significant dispersal limits on M. vimineum populations not subject to conspicuous overland water flow. We discuss our findings in the context of spread, impact and management of invasive species.

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Perennial Microstegium vimineum (Poaceae): An Apparent Misidentification?

Cited by 26 publications

References 3 publications

Predicting Microstegium vimineum invasion in natural plant communities of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains, USA

Predicting Microstegium vimineum invasion in natural plant communities of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains, USA

Light limitation creates patchy distribution of an invasive grass in eastern deciduous forests

Performance and reproduction of an exotic invader across temperate forest gradients

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