Rapid nitrogen and phosphorus homeostasis transformation in Eupatorium adenophorum during invasion

Abstract

SummaryExotic plants can compete well with native species because many invasive species are considered better nutrient users in both low‐ and high‐resource environments. However, whether invasive plants can outperform native plants at all stages of invasion is not very clear. We investigated the nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and N:P homeostasis of an invasive Eupatorium adenophorum and a co‐occurring native plant Artemisia argyi in an area across the five invasion stages of E. adenophorum. The N homeostasis (HN) of E. adenophorum was higher than that of A. argyi, whereas the P and N:P homeostasis (HP and HN/P) were higher for A. argyi. For E. adenophorum, HN decreased, but HP and HN/P increased with the invasion time. For A. argyi, HN/P increased, HP and HN remained stable with the invasion time. The results demonstrated that E. adenophorum could maintain higher HN during invasion stages when N was limited and could maintain higher HN and HP at invasion stages when P was more limited. This rapid nitrogen and phosphorus homeostasis transformation of invasive E. adenophorum during its invasion stages guarantees its stronger competitive ability over native species and promotes its invasion success.

Bacillus benefits the competitive growth of Ambrosia artemisiifolia by increasing available nutrient levels

“…The difference in Bacillus diversity between A. artemisiifolia and S. viridis further indicates that different functional traits play great roles in shaping microbial community of rhizosphere soil. Besides, increasing evidences show that invasiveness of the invasive species is associated with significant changes in the plant–soil elemental composition and stoichiometry ( González et al., 2010 ; Wu et al., 2019 ). One of the invasion hypotheses proposes that changes in the soil microbial communities caused by invasive plants can result in positive plant-soil feedback by accumulating beneficial microorganisms in the rhizosphere ( Inderjit and Cahill, 2015 ).…”

Invasive Ageratina adenophora can maintain its ecological advantages over time through releasing its autotoxicity by accumulating a bacterium Bacillus cereus

“…In June 2012, the soils were sampled from three different sites, invaded by A. adenophora for more than 40 years in Chengjiang County, Yuxi City [ 28 ]: a low land (24°55′33″N, 102°57′57″E, 1920 m a.s.l), a hillside (24°56′41″N, 102°56′39″E, 1944 m a.s.l) and a road side (24°50′5″N, 103°3′7″E, 1995 m a.s.l). At each site, based on the regimes of A. adenophora , four subcommunities were identified located at least 2000 m apart: a subcommunity with dominance of A. adenophora (Invaded), a subcommunity with A. adenophora and native species (Mixed), a subcommunity with only native species (Native) and a subcommunity with no plants (Bare).…”