Invasibility and recoverability of a plant community following invasion depend on its successional stages

Abstract

Exotic species invasion represent important causes of harming the structure, function, and ecological environment in ecosystems. Yet, knowledge remains limited on the invasibility (invasion advantage of exotic species) and recoverability (recovery ability of native species) of a plant community following invasion depend on its successional stages. We selected three grasses of Setaria viridis, Artemisia gmelinii, and Bothriochloa ischemum representing early (E), middle (M), and late (L) successional species, respectively. Meanwhile, the grasses of Panicum virgatum was selected to represent exotic species (invasion species). Three types of soil were collected to treat the three E, M, and L successional species, and one type of soil was collected to treat the exotic species. We compared the performance of the three native plant species and one exotic species grown in their “own” and “other” soils in a 2-year greenhouse experiment. Our study showed that exotic species performed better in soils of E and M successional species than in the soil of L successional species. After exotic species removed, E and M successional species exhibited poor growth in the soil of exotic species, while that of L successional species performed poor in field exotic species soils, but performed better in soils disturbed by exotic species. Our study demonstrated that the invasibility and recoverability of native plant communities changed with vegetation succession.