
Congeneric invasive versus native plants utilize similar inorganic nitrogen forms but have disparate use efficiencies
Author(s) -
Hu Yu,
WeiMing He
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of plant ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.718
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1752-993X
pISSN - 1752-9921
DOI - 10.1093/jpe/rtaa085
Subject(s) - invasive species , biomass (ecology) , biology , native plant , ammonium , introduced species , nitrogen , chlorophyll , nitrate , botany , agronomy , ecology , chemistry , organic chemistry
Aims Soil inorganic nitrogen (N) has long been recognized to play an important role in plant invasions. Whilst comparing the N use strategies of multiple invasive versus native plant congeners along an entire N gradient is key to understanding plant invasion success, there are few related studies. Methods We conducted a potted experiment with six invasive and native congeneric pairs, which were subjected to 11 nitrate/ammonium (NO3−/NH4+) ratios (i.e. 100% NO3− at one end and 100% NH4+ at the other end), each with low- and high-N levels. Each species–N combination was replicated eight times, and thus there were 2112 pots in total. We measured the following traits: the total biomass, growth advantage, biomass allocation, leaf chlorophyll content and low-N tolerance. Important Findings Invasive and native congeners grew well at any NO3−/NH4+ ratios, and their responses of growth, allocation and tolerance were approximately parallel along the 11 NO3−/NH4+ ratios across two N levels. Plant invaders grew larger and had greater chlorophyll contents, higher root biomass allocation and stronger low-N tolerance than their congeneric natives. These findings suggest that invasive and native plant congeners may utilize similar inorganic N forms (i.e. NO3− and NH4+) across an entire N composition gradient and that higher N use efficiencies could favor alien plants to invade new plant communities where congeneric natives are dominants.