Abstract
Alien invasive species can affect large areas, often with wide-ranging impacts on ecosystem structure, function, and services. Prunus serotina is a widespread invader of European temperate forests, where it tends to form homogeneous stands and limits recruitment of indigenous trees. We hypotesized that invasion by P. serotina would be reflected in the nutrient contents of the native species' leaves and in the respiration of invaded plots as efficient resource uptake and changes in nutrient cycling by P. serotina probably underly its aggressive invasiveness. We combined data from 48 field plots in the forest of Compiègne, France, and data from an experiment using 96 microcosms derived from those field plots. We used general linear models to separate effects of invasion by P. serotina on heterotrophic soil and litter respiration rates and on canopy foliar nutrient content from effects of soil chemical properties, litter quantity, litter species composition, and tree species composition. In invaded stands, average respiration rates were 5.6% higher for soil (without litter) and 32% higher for soil and litter combined. Compared to indigenous tree species, P. serotina exhibited higher foliar N (+24.0%), foliar P (+50.7%), and lower foliar C:N (−22.4%) and N:P (−10.1%) ratios. P. serotina affected foliar nutrient contents of co-occuring indigenous tree species leading to decreased foliar N (−8.7 %) and increased C:N ratio (+9.5%) in Fagus sylvatica, decreased foliar N:P ratio in Carpinus betulus (−13.5%) and F. sylvatica (−11.8%), and increased foliar P in Pinus sylvestris (+12.3%) in invaded vs. uninvaded stands. Our results suggest that P. serotina is changing nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon cycles to its own advantage, hereby increasing carbon turnover via labile litter, affecting the relative nutrient contents in the overstory leaves, and potentially altering the photosynthetic capacity of the long-lived indigenous broadleaved species. Uncontrolled invasion of European temperate forests by P. serotina may affect the climate change mitigation potential of these forests in the long term, through additive effects on local nutrient cycles.
Highlights
Alien invasive plant species have important effects on the diversity and stability of ecosystems (Ehrenfeld, 2003; Hejda et al, 2009)
The respiration rate from soil RS increased with available Soil organic matter content (SOM) [F(1, 42) = 47.267; P < 0.001; Figure 1A] but there was no significant effect of P. serotina [F(1, 42) = 0.199; P = 0.658; Table S1]
RLIT+S increased with available litter on the forest floor [F(1, 42) = 23.562; P < 0.001; Figure 1B] and with increasing soil pH and concentrations of base cations Ca and Mg [soil PCA1: F(1, 42) = 9.320; P = 0.004]; there was a significant effect of P. serotina on the combined respiration rate from soil and litter [F(1, 42) = 5.351; P = 0.026; Table S2]
Summary
Alien invasive plant species have important effects on the diversity and stability of ecosystems (Ehrenfeld, 2003; Hejda et al, 2009). For instance, affect belowground carbon pools (Liao et al, 2007; Kramer et al, 2012) or change decomposition rates via impacts on litter quality (Ashton et al, 2005; Zhang et al, 2014, 2016), hereby potentially altering the ecosystems’ environmental conditions and indirectly driving changes in plant community composition (Halarewicz and Zołnierz, 2014). Alien invasive plant species may even have direct impacts on human health, for instance by producing allergenic pollen that exacerbate respiratory diseases (Wayne et al, 2002; Richter et al, 2013)
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