Abstract
As a result of biodiversity and ecosystem service losses associated with biological invasions, there has been growing interest in basic and applied research on invasive species aiming to improve management strategies. Tradescantia zebrina is a herbaceous species increasingly reported as invasive in the understory of disturbed forest ecosystems. In this study, we assess the effect of spatial and seasonal variation on biological attributes of this species in the Atlantic Forest. To this end, we measured attributes of T. zebrina associated with plant growth and stress in the four seasons at the forest edge and in the forest interior of invaded sites in the Iguaçu National Park, Southern Brazil. The invasive plant had higher growth at the forest edge than in the forest interior and lower leaf asymmetry and herbivory in the winter than in the summer. Our findings suggest that the forest edge environment favours the growth of T. zebrina. This invasive species is highly competitive in the understory of semi-deciduous seasonal forests all over the year. Our study contributes to the management of T. zebrina by showing that the summer is the best season for controlling this species.
Highlights
Invasive alien species are one of the major causes of species loss (Newbold et al, 2015), threatening biodiversity conservation (Wittenberg and Cock, 2001) and the provision of ecosystem services (Walsh et al, 2016)
T. zebrina had a greater number of leaves and higher dry biomass at the forest edge compared to the forest interior (Figure 1)
Our results demonstrate that both forest edge effects and climatic seasonality affect biological attributes of T. zebrina
Summary
Invasive alien species are one of the major causes of species loss (Newbold et al, 2015), threatening biodiversity conservation (Wittenberg and Cock, 2001) and the provision of ecosystem services (Walsh et al, 2016). Alien plants may affect ecosystem processes by changing nutrient cycling, trophic interactions, community structure, and species functional attributes (Dogra et al, 2010), and by affecting physical properties of ecosystems such as erosion rates, sedimentation, and the water cycle (Wittenberg and Cock, 2001; Ziller, 2001; GISP, 2005; Currie et al, 2014). Biodiversity loss and landscape changes caused by invasive alien species may be severe in protected areas (FICMNEW, 1998). No Brazilian protected area is known to be free of alien species, such areas possibly exist (Leão et al, 2011). Ziller and Dechoum (2013) reported
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