Abstract
This study aims to determine the allelopathic potential of Amaranthus retroflexus (Ar) with different climatic zones on seed germination and growth of A. tricolor (At) treated with a gradient N addition. Ar leaf extracts only displayed significantly allelopathic potential on the underground growth of Ar but not the aboveground growth of At. The allelopathic potential of Ar leaf extracts on root length of At were enhanced under N addition and there may be a N-concentration-dependent relationship. The effects of the extracts of Ar leaves that collected from Zhenjiang on seed germination and growth of At may be higher than that collected from Jinan especially on root length of At under medium N addition. This reason may be the contained higher concentration of secondary metabolites for the leaves of plants that growths in high latitudes compare with that growth in low latitudes. This phenomenon may also partly be attributed to the fact that Ar originated in America and/or south-eastern Asia which have higher similarity climate conditions as Zhenjiang rather than Jinan. The allelopathic potential of Ar on seed germination and growth of acceptor species may play an important role in its successful invasion especially in the distribution region with low latitudes.
Highlights
A. tricolor (At) present, biological invasion has triggered notable changes on the structure and functioning of native ecosystems (Gurevitch et al 2011, Powell et al 2013)
This study addressed the following hypotheses: (1) A. retroflexus exhibits allelopathic potential on seed germination and growth of A. tricolor; (2) the allelopathic potential of A. retroflexus on seed germination and growth of A. tricolor will be changed under exogenous N addition; and (3) there may be significant difference in the allelopathic potential of A. retroflexus between different distribution regions that belong to different climatic zones on seed germination and growth of A. tricolor
It is interesting that the extracts of A. retroflexus leaves that collected from both Jinan and Zhenjiang all exerted significantly negative effects on the root length of A. tricolor but triggered significantly positive effects on plant height, seedling biomass, and vigor index of A. tricolor
Summary
Biological invasion has triggered notable changes on the structure and functioning of native ecosystems (Gurevitch et al 2011, Powell et al 2013). East Asia (mainly China) is currently one of the world’s three largest areas of N deposition (Galloway et al 2004, Wang et al 2007, Liu et al 2013). The notorious invasive plant Amaranthus retroflexus L. has been distributed in many regions of China (Weber et al 2008, Yan et al 2014). Understanding the allelopathic potential of A. retroflexus L. with different distribution regions on seed germination and growth of native species is important to elucidate the mechanism underlying its successful invasion especially under the condition with increasing amounts of anthropogenic N being deposited into ecosystems gradually
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