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Sampling and Complementarity Effects of Plant Diversity on Resource Use Increases the Invasion Resistance of Communities.

ABSTRACT: Although plant diversity is postulated to resist invasion, studies have not provided consistent results, most of which were ascribed to the influences of other covariate environmental factors.To explore the mechanisms by which plant diversity influences community invasibility, an experiment was conducted involving grassland sites varying in their species richness (one, two, four, eight, and sixteen species). Light interception efficiency and soil resources (total N, total P, and water content) were measured. The number of species, biomass, and the number of seedlings of the invading species decreased significantly with species richness. The presence of Patrinia scabiosaefolia Fisch. ex Trev. and Mosla dianthera (Buch.-Ham. ex Roxburgh) Maxim. significantly increased the resistance of the communities to invasion. A structural equation model showed that the richness of planted species had no direct and significant effect on invasion. Light interception efficiency had a negative effect on the invasion whereas soil water content had a positive effect. In monocultures, Antenoron filiforme (Thunb.) Rob. et Vaut. showed the highest light interception efficiency and P. scabiosaefolia recorded the lowest soil water content. With increased planted-species richness, a greater percentage of pots showed light use efficiency higher than that of A. filiforme and a lower soil water content than that in P. scabiosaefolia.The results of this study suggest that plant diversity confers resistance to invasion, which is mainly ascribed to the sampling effect of particular species and the complementarity effect among species on resources use.

SUBMITTER: Zhu DH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4640883 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Sampling and Complementarity Effects of Plant Diversity on Resource Use Increases the Invasion Resistance of Communities.

Zhu Dan H DH Wang Ping P Zhang Wei Z WZ Yuan Yue Y Li Bin B Wang Jiang J

PloS one 20151110 11

<h4>Background</h4>Although plant diversity is postulated to resist invasion, studies have not provided consistent results, most of which were ascribed to the influences of other covariate environmental factors.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>To explore the mechanisms by which plant diversity influences community invasibility, an experiment was conducted involving grassland sites varying in their species richness (one, two, four, eight, and sixteen species). Light interception efficiency ...[more]

PMID: 26556713

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Project description:Interactions and feedbacks between aboveground and belowground biomes are fundamental in controlling ecosystem functions and stability. However, the relationship between plant diversity and soil microbial diversity is elusive. Moreover, it remains unknown whether plant diversity loss will cause the stability of soil microbial communities to deteriorate. To shed light on these questions, we conducted a pot-based experiment to manipulate the plant richness gradient (1, 2, 4, or 8 species) and plant [Symphyotrichum subulatum (Michx.) G. L. Nesom] invasion status. We found that, in the noninvasion treatment, soil fungal diversity significantly and positively correlated with plant diversity, while the relationship between bacterial and plant diversity was not significant. Under plant invasion conditions, the coupling of plant-fungal alpha diversity relationship was enhanced, but the plant-fungal beta diversity relationship was decoupled. We also found significant positive relationships between plant diversity and soil microbial resistance. The observed positive relationships were determined by turnover (species substitution) and nestedness (species loss) processes for bacterial and fungal communities, respectively. Our study demonstrated that plant diversity enhanced soil fungal diversity and microbial resistance in response to plant invasion. This study expands our knowledge about the aboveground-belowground diversity relationship and the diversity-stability relationship.IMPORTANCE Our study newly showed that plant invasion significantly altered relationships between aboveground and belowground diversity. Specifically, plant richness indirectly promoted soil fungal richness through the increase of soil total carbon (TC) without plant invasion, while plant richness had a direct positive effect on soil fungal richness under plant invasion conditions. Our study highlights the effect of plant diversity on soil fungal diversity, especially under plant invasion conditions, and the plant diversity effect on microbial resistance in response to plant invasion. These novel findings add important knowledge about the aboveground-belowground diversity relationship and the diversity-stability relationship.

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Dataset Information

Sampling and Complementarity Effects of Plant Diversity on Resource Use Increases the Invasion Resistance of Communities.

Publications

Sampling and Complementarity Effects of Plant Diversity on Resource Use Increases the Invasion Resistance of Communities.

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