Responses of the soil fungal communities to the co‐invasion of two invasive species with different cover classes

Abstract

Soil fungal communities play an important role in the successful invasion of non-native species. It is common for two or more invasive plant species to co-occur in invaded ecosystems. This study aimed to determine the effects of co-invasion of two invasive species (Erigeron annuus and Solidago canadensis) with different cover classes on soil fungal communities using high-throughput sequencing. Invasion of E. annuus and/or S. canadensis had positive effects on the sequence number, operational taxonomic unit (OTU) richness, Shannon diversity, abundance-based cover estimator (ACE index) and Chao1 index of soil fungal communities, but negative effects on the Simpson index. Thus, invasion of E. annuus and/or S. canadensis could increase diversity and richness of soil fungal communities but decrease dominance of some members of these communities, in part to facilitate plant further invasion, because high soil microbial diversity could increase soil functions and plant nutrient acquisition. Some soil fungal species grow well, whereas others tend to extinction after non-native plant invasion with increasing invasion degree and presumably time. The sequence number, OTU richness, Shannon diversity, ACE index and Chao1 index of soil fungal communities were higher under co-invasion of E. annuus and S. canadensis than under independent invasion of either individual species. The co-invasion of the two invasive species had a positive synergistic effect on diversity and abundance of soil fungal communities, partly to build a soil microenvironment to enhance competitiveness of the invaders. The changed diversity and community under co-invasion could modify resource availability and niche differentiation within the soil fungal communities, mediated by differences in leaf litter quality and quantity, which can support different fungal/microbial species in the soil.

Reutilization of Green Waste as Compost for Soil Improvement in the Afforested Land of the Beijing Plain

“…The greater the Shannon index or the smaller the Simpson index, the higher the bacterial community diversity [37]. Indexes computational methods referred to the literature [38,39]. Redundancy analysis (RDA), which has proved to be a good method and is widely used for the analysis of the relation between soil factors and bacterial community in recent years [40,41], was conducted using Canoco 5.0 [42,43].…”

The invasive tree staghorn sumac affects soil N2‐fixing bacterial communities in north China

“…The invasion degree of staghorn sumac was evaluated based on its cover classes (C) in the invaded ecosystems and were divided into the following two categories: low degree of invasion (C < 35%, L) and heavy degree of invasion (C > 75%, H) (Wang et al . ,b, ). In particular, the low degree of invasion mimicked the colonisation stage of the invasion process and the heavy degree of invasion mimicked the landscape spread stage of the invasion process (Theoharides & Dukes ; Rai ).…”

“…Soil pH was measured in situ using a digital soil acidity–moisture meter (ZD‐06; ZD Instrument, Taizhou, China; Wang et al . ,d, ,c,d). Soil electrical conductivity was determined using a digital soil electrical conductivity tester in situ (ZD‐EC; ZD Instrument; Wang et al .…”

“…; Wang et al . ,b,c,d, ). Many invaders have a remarkable impact on the community structure and ecological functioning of soil microbes in their rhizosphere.…”

“…Subsequently, there will be progressive shifts in the relative abundance of invaders, which results in different degrees of invasion in the invaded ecosystems (Wilson & Pinno ; Wang et al . ,b, ,b,c). Furthermore, the invaded regions of such invaders may include a latitudinal gradient and thus a plurality of climate regions (Weber et al .…”