Comparison of ecophysiological and leaf anatomical traits of native and invasive plant species

Ridesti Rindyastuti,Chaeho Byun,Lia Hapsari

doi:10.1186/s41610-020-00174-7

Ridesti Rindyastuti, Chaeho Byun + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41610-020-00174-7

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Abstract

BackgroundTo address the lack of evidence supporting invasion by three invasive plant species (Imperata cylindrica, Lantana camara, and Chromolaena odorata) in tropical ecosystems, we compared the ecophysiological and leaf anatomical traits of these three invasive alien species with those of species native to Sempu Island, Indonesia. Data on four plant traits were obtained from the TRY Plant Trait Database, and leaf anatomical traits were measured using transverse leaf sections.ResultsTwo ecophysiological traits including specific leaf area (SLA) and seed dry weight showed significant association with plant invasion in the Sempu Island Nature Reserve. Invasive species showed higher SLA and lower seed dry weight than non-invasive species. Moreover, invasive species showed superior leaf anatomical traits including sclerenchymatous tissue thickness, vascular bundle area, chlorophyll content, and bundle sheath area. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that leaf anatomical traits strongly influenced with cumulative variances (100% in grass and 88.92% in shrubs), where I. cylindrica and C. odorata outperformed non-invasive species in these traits.ConclusionsThese data suggest that the traits studied are important for plant invasiveness since ecophysiological traits influence of light capture, plant growth, and reproduction while leaf anatomical traits affect herbivory, photosynthetic assimilate transport, and photosynthetic activity.

Highlights

To address the lack of evidence supporting invasion by three invasive plant species (Imperata cylindrica, Lantana camara, and Chromolaena odorata) in tropical ecosystems, we compared the ecophysiological and leaf anatomical traits of these three invasive alien species with those of species native to Sempu Island, Indonesia
In this study, we aimed to determine the ecophysiological and leaf anatomical traits of native and invasive plant species, including shrubs and grass, and their correlation with species invasiveness in the Sempu Island Nature Reserve, Indonesia
The seed dry weight of all three invasive species was lower than that of all native species (Table 1) and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that this difference was significant (Fig. 2b; Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Successful invasion by alien plant species is promoted by many factors that increase their competitiveness over that of co-occurring native plants. Alien plant invasion threatens the natural ecosystems around the world (CBD 2010), including the tropical area of Indonesian Archipelago (Tjitrosoedirdjo et al 2016). Tjitrosoedirdjo (2005) reported that approximately 1936 alien plant species belonging to 187 families were introduced into Indonesia. Many of these plant species successfully invaded conservation areas, causing significant environmental changes in the Halimun-Salak National Park (HSNP) (Junaedi and Dodo 2014), Mt. Gede Pangrango National Park (GPNP) (Kudo et al 2014), Alas Purwo

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