Early response of herbaceous vegetation to Rhododendron ponticum subsp. baeticum invasion in European Atlantic forests

Questions

Rhododendron ponticum subsp. baeticum is an invasive shrub of growing concern in continental Europe, but little is known about its impact on native plant communities. Here we ask: do environmental conditions differ between forest stands invaded by it and uninvaded stands? Do these differences correlate with R. ponticum's cover? Are these differences associated with differences in taxonomic and functional diversity of vascular plant species of the herb layer? Can these vegetation changes be explained by the sorting of certain life-history traits by R. ponticum-induced environmental changes?

Location

Several forests invaded by R. ponticum in the French Atlantic domain.

Methods

We recorded vegetation composition and a number of environmental variables in 400-m² plots that were established in 64 paired forest stands (32 invaded vs 32 uninvaded). We compiled traits from existing databases. We computed several metrics of taxonomic and functional diversity. We compared environmental variables and diversity metrics between invaded and uninvaded stands. We used correlation and regression analyses to relate them with R. ponticum's cover. We ran RLQ and fourth-corner analyses to explore the relationships between R. ponticum invasion, environmental variables, species traits, and vegetation composition.

Results

Independent of its abundance, R. ponticum invasion was associated with lower light arrival at the forest floor and increased litter thickness. Concomitantly, species richness and diversity and trait diversity were reduced. The major driver of species assemblages was soil pH, which strongly interacted with the invasion gradient. R. ponticum did not sort species according to traits associated with shade tolerance and thick-litter tolerance. However, tree and shrub saplings were more abundant in invaded than uninvaded stands, at the expense of graminoid and fern species.

Conclusions

As R. ponticum becomes the dominant shrub, it exerts new selection forces on life-history traits of extant species, mostly via reduced light availability, increased litter thickness, and physical competition, thereby reducing taxonomic and functional diversity of the herb layer, without impeding tree and shrub self-regeneration, at least in the short term.     

The legacy of forest logging on organic matter inputs and storage in tropical streams

Riparian forests play an important role in stream ecosystems, as they support biodiversity, reduce water erosion, and provide litter that fuels aquatic biota. However, they are affected by great array of anthropogenic threats (e.g., fire, logging, and organic pollution), which alter species composition and their physical structure. Although forest recovery after disturbance such as logging can take decades, the legacy of forest clear-cut logging on key processes in tropical riparian ecosystems is mostly unknown. Here, we investigated how litter inputs (leaves, twigs, and reproductive parts) and storage, key processes for carbon and nutrient recycling and for forest and stream biota, are influenced by riparian vegetation undergoing succession (after 28 years from logging) through the comparison of reference and logged forest sites in the Cerrado biome. Litterfall was overall similar between forest types, but litterfall of twigs was twofold higher at logged than reference sites. Similarly, litter inputs from the bank to the stream (i.e., lateral inputs) and streambed storage were 50–60% higher at logged than reference sites. The higher litterfall observed in logged forests could be related to higher proportion of tree species that are characteristic of primary and secondary successional stages, including fast-growing and liana species, which often are more productive and common in anthropogenic areas. Our results showed that the legacy impact of clear-cut logging, even if residual woody vegetation is maintained in riparian buffers, can shift the type, quantity, and seasonality of litter subsidies to tropical streams. This knowledge should be considered within the context of management and conservation of communities and ecosystem processes in the forest-stream interfaces.     

Soil nutrient dissimilarity and litter nutrient limitation as major drivers of home field advantage in riparian tropical forests

Decomposition is a key process driving carbon and nutrient cycling in ecosystems worldwide. The home field advantage effect (HFA) has been found to accelerate decomposition rates when litter originates from “home” when compared to other (“away”) sites. It is still poorly known how HFA plays out in tropical, riparian forests, particularly in forests under restoration. We carried out three independent reciprocal litter transplant experiments to test how litter quality, soil nutrient concentrations, and successional stage (age) influenced HFA in tropical riparian forests. These experimental areas formed a wide gradient of soil and litter nutrients, which we used to evaluate the more general hypothesis that HFA varies with dissimilarity in soil nutrients and litter quality. We found that HFA increased with soil nutrient dissimilarity, suggesting that litter translocation uncouples relationships between decomposers and litter characteristics; and with litter N:P, indicating P limitation in this system. We also found negative HFA effects at a site under restoration that presented low decomposer ability, suggesting that forest restoration does not necessarily recover decomposer communities and nutrient cycling. Within each of the independent experiments, the occurrence of HFA effects was limited and their magnitude was not related to forest age, nor soil and litter quality. Our results imply that HFA effects in tropical ecosystems are influenced by litter nutrient limitation and soil nutrient dissimilarity between home and away sites, but to further disentangle major HFA drivers in tropical areas, a gradient of dissimilarity between litter and soil properties must be implemented in future experimental designs.     

黄土丘陵区代表性乔灌草植物凋落物关键代谢产物释放的室内模拟研究

凋落物源代谢产物在植物-土壤系统中发挥着重要生态作用,该研究以黄土丘陵区刺槐、油松、沙棘、狗尾草和达乌里胡枝子等5种代表性乔灌草植物的凋落物为研究对象,以土壤混水振荡沉淀后收集上清液的方式提取客土微生物,通过均匀喷施上清液对凋落物进行接种,并在室温(25℃)恒湿(凋落物持水率维持在约100%)条件下进行室内分解模拟,研究该过程中7种代谢产物的降解和释放特征,以期更深入地理解凋落物分解过程及其可能的后续生态学效应,为林草生态系统管理提供依据。结果显示：(1)150 d的分解过程中,5种凋落物的木质素均呈分解前期(0～60 d)少部分降解(<30%)、后期趋于停滞的趋势;水溶性酚、凝缩单宁和黄酮呈分解前期(0～30 d)快速释放大部分(>80%)、后期显著减缓的趋势;萜类呈持续释放、甚至在试验后期明显加速的趋势;可溶性糖和氨基酸的释放均呈现在短时间内快速释放、随后缓慢释放的趋势。总体而言,除木质素呈慢速降解状态外,其他代谢产物均呈超速释放状态。(2)7种代谢产物的年降解或释放速率总体均呈现沙棘和刺槐凋落物显著高于达乌里胡枝子、狗尾草和油松凋落物的规律(P<0.05)。(3...     

森林凋落物与大型土壤动物相关关系的研究

以针阔混交林及落叶阔叶林为例,探讨了森林凋落物与大型土壤动物的相关关系。研究表明,森林凋落物中大型土壤动物的个体数依林型、凋落物厚度、凋落物量不同而异,凋落物的分解程度影响大型土壤动物的种类、数量分布,凋落物中矿质元素含量与大型土壤动物体内矿质元素含量相关较好,凋落物中微量元素含量与大型土壤动物体内微量元素含量明显不相关。本研究为揭示大型土壤动物在凋落物分解中的作用,进而为森林的经营和保护提供科学依据。     

The effects of grazing and burning on soil and plant nutrient concentrations in Colombian páramo grasslands

The impact of extensive livestock farming on the physical and chemical characteristics of the volcanic soils and on the nutrient status of green plant tissues of neotropical alpine grasslands (páramo) is studied. Soil and plant samples were taken over a one-year period at five sites with different agricultural (grazing and burning) management. In the undisturbed páramo ecosystem, soil moisture (50–250%) and organic matter content are high (7–27%) and decomposition (11–35% yr^-1) and element concentrations are low. Low temperatures (max < 10°C) and phosphorus fixation by the soil (5 mg P g^-1 soil) determine the low mineralization and turn-over rates.Multivariate analysis of laboratory results indicates that the season of sampling and the agricultural practice are the most important explanatory factors for variation of soil characteristics. After long-term heavy grazing, soils have a higher bulk density and a lower moisture content. The outcome of a litterbag experiment confirms the hypothesis of higher decomposition rates at grazed sites. In the intermediate (wet-dry) season, conditions were somewhat better for plant growth but the system remained nutrient limited.Surprisingly, no relation between soil density, moisture or carbon content and concentrations of available nutrients in the soil is found. This is supported by the rather uniform nutrient concentrations in green plant tissue among the sites. It is concluded therefore that the effect of burning and grazing on páramo soils is principally restricted to physical characteristics, and that differences in chemical characteristics of the soil do not cause differences in vegetation structure between grazed, burned and undisturbed sites.The Netherlands Centre for Geo-ecological Research, ICG.     

Symbiotic N2-fixation by the cover crop Pueraria phaseoloides as influenced by litter mineralization

The perennial legume Pueraria phaseoloides is widely used as a cover crop in rubber and oil palm plantations. However, very little knowledge exists on the effect of litter mineralization from P. phaseoloides on its symbiotic N₂-fixation. The contribution from symbiotic N₂-fixation (Ndfa) and litter N (Ndfl) to total plant N in P. phaseoloides was determined in a pot experiment using a ¹⁵N cross-labeling technique. For determination of N₂-fixation the non-fixing plant Axonopus compressus was used as a reference. The experiment was carried out in a growth chamber during 9 weeks with a sandy soil and 4 rates of ground litter (C/N=16,2.8% N). P. phaseoloides plants supplied with the highest amount of litter produced 26% more dry matter and fixed 23% more N than plants grown in soil with no litter application, but the percentage of Ndfa decreased slightly, but significantly, from 87 to 84%. The litter N uptake was directly proportional to the rate of application and constituted 10% of total plant N at the highest application rate. Additionally, a positive correlation was found between litter N uptake and the amount of fixed N₂. The total recovery of litter N in plants averaged 26% at harvest (shoot + root) and was not affected by the quantity added. A parallel incubation experiment also showed that, as an average of all litter levels, 26% of the litter N was present in the inorganic N pool. The amounts of fertilizer and soil N taken up by plants decreased with litter application, probably due to microbial immobilization and denitrification. It is concluded that, within the litter levels studied, litter mineralization will result in a higher amount of N₂-fixed by P. phaseoloides.     

Does nitrogen availability control rates of litter decomposition in forests?

The effects of increased exogenous N availability on rates of litter decomposition were assessed in several field fertilization trials. In a jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) forest, needle litter decomposed at the same rate in control plots and in plots fertilized with urea and ammonium nitrate (1350 kg N ha^-1) with or without P and K. Mixed needle litter of western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.), western red cedar (Thuja plicata Donn) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) incubated in plots recently amended with sewage sludge (500 kg N ha^-1) lost less weight during 3 years than did litter in control plots. Forest floor material also decomposed more slowly in plots amended with sewage sludge. Paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.) leaf litter placed on sewage sludge (1000 kg N ha^-1), pulp sludge, or sewage-pulp sludge mixtures decomposed at the same rate as leaf litter in control plots. These experiments demonstrate little effect of exogenous N availability on rates of litter decomposition.The influence of endogenous N availability on rates of litter decomposition was examined in a microcosm experiment. Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Engelm.) needle litter collected from N-fertilized trees (525 kg N ha^-1 in ammonium nitrate) were 5 times richer in N than needles from control trees (1.56% N versus 0.33% N in control trees), but decomposed at the same rate. Green needles from fertilized trees contained twice as much N as needles from control trees (1.91% N versus 0.88% N), but decomposed at the same rate. These experiments suggest that N availability alone, either exogenous or endogenous, does not control rates of litter decomposition. Increased N availability, through fertilization or deposition, in the absence of changes in vegetation composition, will not alter rates of litter decomposition in forests.     

Biodegradation ofShorea robusta Gaertn. leaf litter and the cycling of minerals in a tropical sal forest

Summary Microbial degradation of the leaf litter ofShorea robusta Gaertn. was studied for a period of one year. The changes in the major litter constituents like sugar, starch, hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin were analysed from the litter kept under the nylon bags, at a month's interval. Four major elements phosphorous, potassium, magnesium and calcium were also assessed monthly from the decaying litter and the soil. The role of microfungi in mineral cycling and loss of litter substrates have been correlated.     

茶园冬季乔木落叶的分解和矿质元素释放

在我国南方存在着一种传统植茶方式——茶林复合生态系统,近年来人们已逐步认识到它在维持土壤肥力,抗御自然灾害和保证茶叶内质特性等方面的作用,然而对冬季乔木落叶分解和矿质元素释放的作用尚无报道。本文是对安徽省黄山市休宁县茶树-乌桕复合园和茶树-板栗复合园的冬季乔木落叶分解的研究,为全面认识茶林复合生态系统的性质提供依据。