Plant-soil interactions in the communities dominated by alien and native plants

Abstract

It has been established by research on plant invasions that soil biota and availability of nutrients affect the processes of alien species establishment and spread. So far, attention was mainly on alien invaders, although some native species (expansive), vigorously spread in human-influenced landscapes and also transform the habitats they colonize. Based on indirect gradient ordination analysis of vegetation relevés dominated by five native (Calamagrostis epigejos, Filipendula ulmaria, Phalaris arundinacea, Rubus idaeus, Urtica dioica) and five alien taxa (Impatiens glandulifera, Lupinus polyphyllus, Telekia speciosa, Reynoutria sp., Solidago canadensis agg.) in the Czech Republic, Central Europe, we identified pairs of species differing by origin (native vs alien) and growing in similar habitats. In the resulting 10 pairs, we tested the net effect of species origin on the following soil characteristics: (i) physical properties, (ii) nutrient availability, and (iii) biological activity. We found that the impact of alien invasive and native expansive species on soil cannot be explained simply by species’ origin as a factor. Regardless of the origin, a statistically significant effect was recorded only for factors expressing nitrogen supply at the peak of the vegetation season and soil biological activity. Differences in impacts attributable to origin were only verified for individual pairs, being most pronounced between the alien Lupinus and its native counterparts Calamagrostis and Filipendula, and least between Solidago vs Calamagrostis, and Telekia vs Rubus. Both invasive alien and expansive native dominant plants can alter the rate of decomposition by changing the litter quality and availability of nutrients, mainly inorganic nitrogen. Therefore, management actions to preserve or restore diversity and mitigate the negative impacts of dominant species should be focused both on native and alien species.