scholarly journals Functional Diversity and Invasive Species Influence Soil Fertility in Experimental Grasslands

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Leonardo H. Teixeira ◽  
Florencia A. Yannelli ◽  
Gislene Ganade ◽  
Johannes Kollmann

Ecosystem properties can be positively affected by plant functional diversity and compromised by invasive alien plants. We performed a community assembly study in mesocosms manipulating different functional diversity levels for native grassland plants (communities composed by 1, 2 or 3 functional groups) to test if functional dispersion could constrain the impacts of an invasive alien plant (Solidago gigantea) on soil fertility and plant community biomass via complementarity. Response variables were soil nutrients, soil water nutrients and aboveground biomass. We applied linear mixed-effects models to assess the effects of functional diversity and S. gigantea on plant biomass, soil and soil water nutrients. A structural equation model was used to evaluate if functional diversity and invasive plants affect soil fertility directly or indirectly via plant biomass and soil pH. Invaded communities had greater total biomass but less native plant biomass than uninvaded ones. While functional diversity increased nutrient availability in the soil solution of uninvaded communities, invasive plants reduced nutrient concentration in invaded soils. Functional diversity indirectly affected soil water but not soil nutrients via plant biomass, whereas the invader reduced native plant biomass and disrupted the effects of diversity on nutrients. Moreover, invasive plants reduced soil pH and compromised phosphate uptake by plants, which can contribute to higher phosphate availability and its possible accumulation in invaded soils. We found little evidence for functional diversity to constrain invasion impacts on nutrients and plant biomass. Restoration of such systems should consider other plant community features than plant trait diversity to reduce establishment of invasive plants.

ISRN Ecology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliza S. Deutsch ◽  
Edward W. Bork ◽  
James F. Cahill ◽  
Scott X. Chang

Little is known about the short-term impacts of warming on native plant community dynamics in the northern Canadian prairies. This study examined the immediate effects of elevated temperature and defoliation on plant community diversity, composition, and biomass within a native rough fescue (Festuca hallii (Vasey) Piper) grassland over two growing seasons. We used open-top chambers to simulate climate change and defoliated vegetation in midsummer of the first year to simulate biomass loss associated with periodic ungulate grazing. Warming marginally increased plant species diversity and changed community composition shortly after treatment, but effects were not apparent the second year, and there were no apparent impacts on plant biomass. Nonetheless, warming may have impacted community diversity indirectly through reduced soil moisture content, a pattern that persisted into the second year. Overall, this northern temperate grassland demonstrated limited community-level changes to warming even in the presence of defoliation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 2373-2382
Author(s):  
Jacques Sawadogo ◽  
Pane Jeanne d’Arc Coulibaly ◽  
Wendpouiré Carine Valea ◽  
Jean Boukari Legma

Improved sorghum management practice can provide smallholder farmers with stability in their household nutritional needs and ensure food security. This study was therefore conducted to compare the effect of the single of two organic resources and their combined use with inorganic fertilizer (IN) on soil fertility and sorghum production. It was conducted in the Northern part of Burkina Faso. The treatments consisted of two levels of IN (the normal and the half dose of NPK + urea) and two types of organic resources (simple compost SC and Piliostigma reticulatum leaves compost CP). These treatments were combined to give 6 treatments: T1: control ; T2 : SC ; T3 : CP; T4 : SC + ½ dose of IN ; T5 : CP + ½ dose of IN ; T6 : normal dose of IN. The experiment was led using a randomized complete block design in three replications. The result revealed a greater  improvement of soil pH and nutrients induced by CP used alone. However, when combined with IN, it decreased significantly soil nutrients and  sorghum yield components and yield. Contrary, the SC in combination with IN gave the highest improvement in yield components and yield of sorghum. The use of IN alone increased sorghum yield components and yield but it contributed to decrease soil pH and nutrients content. A combined use of inorganic and organic fertilizers could be therefore recommended for maintaining soil fertility and for a sustainable production of sorghum.Keywords : Organic and inorganic resources, soil nutrients, sorghum yield.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Derek Scasta ◽  
David M. Engle ◽  
Samuel D. Fuhlendorf ◽  
Daren D. Redfearn ◽  
Terrance G. Bidwell

AbstractIntroducing exotic forages in the attempt to enhance livestock and wildlife forage has been practiced widely for over a century. These forage species are selected for traits conferring persistence under stress, potentially yielding invaders that transform native plant communities. Using standardized systematic review guidelines and meta-analytical techniques we quantified effects of exotic forage invasion on change of native plant community structure, and compared the magnitude and direction of change across exotic forage species, plant functional groups, and structure of plant communities. Our study of 13 exotic forage species in North America (six C4 grasses, three C3 grasses, and four legumes) yielded 35 papers with quantitative data from 64 case studies. Nine of the 13 species met our inclusion criteria for meta-analysis. The overall effect of exotic forage invasion on native plant communities was negative (Ē̄ = −0.74; 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.29 to −0.25). The effect size was most negative for two C4 grasses, Lehmann lovegrass and Old World bluestems. A negative effect was also expressed by C3 and C4 grass functional groups, and these effects were stronger than for legumes. Effect size differed among measures of plant community structure, with the greatest negative effect on native plant biomass and the least negative effect on species evenness. Weighted fail-safe numbers indicated publication bias was not an issue. Exotic forage species are important for agricultural production but may threaten complex multi-functioning landscapes and should be considered as a subset of potentially invasive exotic species. Characteristics making exotic forages different from other exotic plants hinge on pathways of selection and dispersion: selection is based on persistence mechanisms similar to characteristics of invasive plants; dispersion by humans is intentional across expansive geographic regions. Exotic forages present a complex socio-ecological problem exacerbated by disconnected scientific disciplines, competing interests between policy and science, and organized efforts to increase food production.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuefei Tang ◽  
Chunqiang Wei ◽  
Lunlun Gao ◽  
Bingbing Jia ◽  
Xinmin Lu

Abstract Aims Soil biota can affect plant-plant interactions and non-native plant invasions via plant-soil feedback (PSF). Understanding the drivers underlying interspecific variations in PSF is important for predicting the role of soil biota in non-native plant invasions. Recent studies found that PSF could be predicted by plant traits. The success of plant invasions is also linked with plant traits, suggesting a potential linkage between PSF and plant invasion via plant traits, but has not yet been tested. Here, we compared PSF between six phylogenetically-paired co-occurring native and invasive plants, and explored the potential linkage between PSF with plant root traits. Methods We conducted a two-phase PSF experiment. Field collected soils were conditioned by the six plant species for three months firstly, then seedlings of these plants were grown in living or sterilized soils that had been conditioned by conspecific vs. heterospecific (the congener/confamilial species) individuals. We estimated effects of biota in conspecific (con-specific PSF) or heterospecific (hetero-specific PSF) soils relative to sterilized soils, and the relative effects of biota in conspecific vs. heterospecific soils (PSF-away) on plant biomass. Important findings In general, soil biota suppressed plant growth, and there were no differences in con-specific PSF, hetero-specific PSF and PSF-away between native and invasive plants. PSF increased with rising plant fine-to-total root mass ratio in the presence of soil biota, and its value was comparable between native and invasive plants. Our results indicate that similarity in plant fine-to-total root mass ratio that predicted PSF may have partially led to the comparable PSFs between these native and invasive plants. Studies exploring the linkages among plant traits, PSF and plant invasions with more plants, in particular phylogenetically-distant plants, are needed to improve our understanding of the role of soil biota in plant invasions.


Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 455
Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Swab ◽  
Nicola Lorenz ◽  
Nathan R. Lee ◽  
Steven W. Culman ◽  
Richard P. Dick

After strip mining, soils typically suffer from compaction, low nutrient availability, loss of soil organic carbon, and a compromised soil microbial community. Prairie restorations can improve ecosystem services on former agricultural lands, but prairie restorations on mine lands are relatively under-studied. This study investigated the impact of prairie restoration on mine lands, focusing on the plant community and soil properties. In southeast Ohio, 305 ha within a ~2000 ha area of former mine land was converted to native prairie through herbicide and planting between 1999–2016. Soil and vegetation sampling occurred from 2016–2018. Plant community composition shifted with prairie age, with highest native cover in the oldest prairie areas. Prairie plants were more abundant in older prairies. The oldest prairies had significantly more soil fungal biomass and higher soil microbial biomass. However, many soil properties (e.g., soil nutrients, β-glucosoidase activity, and soil organic carbon), as well as plant species diversity and richness trended higher in prairies, but were not significantly different from baseline cool-season grasslands. Overall, restoration with prairie plant communities slowly shifted soil properties, but mining disturbance was still the most significant driver in controlling soil properties. Prairie restoration on reclaimed mine land was effective in establishing a native plant community, with the associated ecosystem benefits.


2021 ◽  
Vol 162 ◽  
pp. 106179
Author(s):  
Zhiying Ning ◽  
Xueyong Zhao ◽  
Yulin Li ◽  
Lilong Wang ◽  
Jie Lian ◽  
...  

Oecologia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 180 (2) ◽  
pp. 507-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Engelkes ◽  
Annelein Meisner ◽  
Elly Morriën ◽  
Olga Kostenko ◽  
Wim H. Van der Putten ◽  
...  

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