The invasive potential of a hybrid species: insights from soil chemical properties and soil microbial communities

Abstract

Aims Natural hybridization between invasive and native species, as a form of adaptive evolution, threatens biodiversity worldwide. However, the potential invasive mechanisms of hybrids remain essentially unexplored, especially insights from soil chemical properties and soil microbial communities. Methods In a field experiment, soil microbial community, potassium-solubilizing bacteria, phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria, enzyme activities, and light-saturated photosynthetic rate were measured in invasive Sphagneticola trilobata and its hybrid with native Sphagneticola calendulacea in 2 years. Important Findings In general, soil dissolved organic carbon and the biomass of phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria were significantly higher under the hybrid treatment than S. trilobata and S. calendulacea. However, there were no significant differences in acid phosphatase, total PLFAs, bacterial PLFAs, fungi PLFAs, cellulase, and urase in these treatments. The hybrids had significantly higher light-saturated photosynthetic rate, photosynthetic nitrogen-, phosphorus-, potassium- use efficiencies than the invasive S. trilobata, but no significant difference with S. calendulacea. The total biomass and root biomass of hybrids were higher than S. calendulacea. Our results indicate that the hybrids species have a higher invasive potential than S. calendulacea, which may aggravate the local extinction of S. calendulacea in the future.

Adaptive photosynthetic strategies of the invasive plant Sphagneticola trilobata and its hybrid to a low-light environment

“…Therefore, it is listed as one of the '100 most harmful invasive alien species in the world' (Lowe et al 2000). The main reasons for the successful invasion of S. trilobata are as follows: (1) it has a strong vegetative reproductive capacity (clonal growth) (Wu et al 2005), (2) it secretes allelochemicals that inhibit the growth of surrounding plants and affect the structure of the soil microbial community and soil texture (Zhang et al 2013, Sun et al 2020a, and (3) it has a stronger CO2-fixation capacity, wider effective photosynthetic radiation range, and higher light quantum-utilization efficiency than that of S. calendulacea (Song et al 2010. Studies have shown that S. trilobata has a higher photosynthetic nitrogen-utilization efficiency, stronger competitiveness, and higher plasticity at highly fluctuating water levels of 15 cm than S. calendulacea, and is more likely to invade wetlands (Javed et al 2020).…”

Comparative Effect of Inoculation of Phosphorus-Solubilizing Bacteria and Phosphorus as Sustainable Fertilizer on Yield and Quality of Mung Bean (Vigna radiata L.)

“…After that, readings were recorded from a UV-vis spectrophotometer (V-73, Japan) at the wavelength of 410 nm. Further calculations were processed by the following Equation (2) [ 43 , 44 ]. where V is the final volume of plant/soil digested material after dilution (mL), V 1 is the volume of plant/soil digest used for P assessment purposes (mL), V 2 is the volume of flask used for assessment (mL), and Wt is the dry weight of plant/soil (g) [ 43 ].…”

Adaptation of the Invasive Plant (Sphagneticola trilobata L. Pruski) to a High Cadmium Environment by Hybridizing With Native Relatives

“…S. trilobata mainly grows near marshes or damp places such as banks of the river, and these places are often the most serious places of human disturbance ( Cai et al, 2020 ; Sun et al, 2020 ; Zhang et al, 2020a ). Because of pollution and waste emissions, soil Cd ions are often very high.…”