Aboveground herbivory increases soil nematode abundance of an invasive plant

入侵植物往往可以影响土壤线虫的群落结构。然而,入侵植物在入侵地并未完全逃逸地上植食性昆虫的取食危害,而我们对昆虫取食是否会调节入侵植物对土壤线虫群落的影响还知之甚少。在本研究中,我们探讨了地上植食性昆虫取食危害如何调节入侵植物空心莲子草(Alternanthera philoxeroides)对土壤线虫群落的影响,并研究了昆虫调节作用的时间效应。我们开展温室实验,对盆栽的空心莲子草施加三种不同的昆虫取食处理[无昆虫取食、专食性昆虫莲草直胸跳甲(Agasicles hygrophila)取食、广食性昆虫虾钳菜披龟甲(Cassida piperata)取食],并在移除所有植食性昆虫后的第1、10和20天测定土壤线虫的群落结构。此外,我们还测定了空心莲子草根系及根系分泌物的碳含量。研究发现,在植食性昆虫被移除的第1天,昆虫取食处理显著提高了空心莲子草根围土壤线虫的丰度,特别是植食性线虫。然而,随着时间推移,这种影响逐渐减退,并在后期(第10和20天)完全消失。此外,专食性昆虫莲草直胸跳甲和广食性昆虫虾钳菜披龟甲的取食危害对土壤线虫丰度的影响并无显著性差异。综上所述,本研究表明地上植食性昆虫的取食危害可以改变入侵植物对土壤线虫群落的影响,但昆虫的调节作用是短暂的。此外,我们的研究强调了在评估入侵植物的影响时,需要同时考虑地上和地下生物群落。     

Responses of soil biota and nitrogen availability to an invasive plant under aboveground herbivory

Plant and Soil - Recently, much attention has been paid to the plant-mediated effects of aboveground herbivory on soil ecosystems. However, studies about the herbivore-induced effects of invasive...     

Photoinhibition and recovery in tropical plant species: response to disturbance

Disturbance or rainforest is often followed by mass mortality of understorey seedlings. Transitions of shade grown plants to full sunlight can cause reductions in the efficiency with which light is used in photosynthesis, called photoinhibition. In order to assess the influence of photoinhibition on mortality and growth after rainforest disturbance this study examined photoinhibition in both simulated and real forest disturbances in northern Papua New Guinea. In an experiment simulating rainforest disturbance, exposure of shade-grown plants to full sunlight resulted in abrupt decreases in the chlorophyll fluorescence parameter F _v/F _m that is characteristic of photoinhibition. However, in the well-watered plants used in these experiments there were no fatalities during 3 weeks after exposure to full sunlight. Thus, it is unlikely that photoinhibition, alone, is responsible for seedling fatalities after rainforest disturbances, but more likely that fatalities are due to photoinhibition in conjunction with other environmental stress. There were differences between the response of species to the simulated disturbance that concurred with their preferred habitats. For example, species form the genus Barringtonia, which is commonly found in shaded understorey environments, underwent greater reductions in F _v/F _m and were slower to recover than species that usually inhabit high solar radiation environments. The extent of photoinhibition and the rate of recovery appeared to be dependent on avoidance of direct solar radiation by altering leaf angles and on increasing maximum photosynthetic rates. A field survey of photoinhibition in man-made rainforest gaps corroborated the findings of the simulated disturbance experiment showing that plant species commonly found in shaded environments showed a greater degree of photoinhibition in forest gaps at midday than those species which are classified as species that benefit from gaps or specialist gap inhabitors.     

Response of Acroptilon repens to simulated herbivory and soil disturbance

Acroptilon repens is an invasive weed in North America but also causes problems in disturbed habitats in its native range in Asia. In order to test the effect of simulated biological control and soil disturbance on established A. repens patches and the competing vegetation, two levels of shoot clipping as well as soil tillage were imposed on A. repens patches in an undisturbed meadow and at two fallowland sites in the native range of the weed. At the meadow site, 2 years of partial clipping of shoots and of soil tillage had no influence on A. repens performance, while soil tillage significantly reduced the above‐ground biomass of the competing vegetation. At the fallowland sites, which had been continuously cultivated for several years prior to the experiment, A. repens shoot density, biomass and number of seed heads were significantly higher in the undisturbed control than in the tillage plots. The total number of seed heads per unit area increased with shoot density up to 200 shoots m^?2. These results indicate that A. repens has considerable regrowth capacities that allow established patches to tolerate substantial losses of above‐ground biomass and that the competitive ability of A. repens is favoured both when soil disturbance is imposed on previously undisturbed sites, as well as when repeated soil disturbance is abandoned. The only promising nonchemical herbicide‐based approach to reduce the competitive ability and seed output of A. repens appears to be a long‐term management that enhances the interspecific plant competition by reducing soil disturbance and selectively damaging A. repens.     

Selection on herbivory resistance and growth rate in an invasive plant

The evolution of increased competitive ability (EICA) hypothesis proposes that invasive species evolve decreased defense and increased competitive ability following natural enemy release. Previous tests of EICA examined the result of evolution by comparing individuals from home and introduced ranges, but no previous study of this hypothesis has examined the process of evolution by analyzing patterns of selection. On the basis of EICA, there should be selection for competitive ability without herbivores and selection for defense with herbivores. Selection on competitive ability should be stronger for genotypes accustomed to herbivores (home range genotypes), and selection on defense should be stronger for genotypes unaccustomed to herbivores (introduced range genotypes). Using a field experiment, we tested these hypotheses for the invasive plant Melaleuca quinquenervia. There was a negative genetic correlation between resistance and growth, indicating a trade-off. However, selection for stem elongation (an indicator of competitive ability) was always positive, and selection on resistance was always negative and did not depend on genotype source or the presence of herbivores. The patterns of selection found in this study contrast with predictions from EICA and accurately predict the lack of evolutionary change in growth and resistance following the introduction of this species from Australia to Florida.     

Rapid evolutionary trade-offs between resistance to herbivory and tolerance to abiotic stress in an invasive plant

Release from enemies can lead to rapid evolution in invasive plants, including reduced metabolic investment in defence. Conversely, reassociation with enemies leads to renewed evolution of defence, but the potential costs of this evolution are poorly documented. We report increased resistance of the invader Ambrosia artemisiifolia after reassociation with a coevolved specialist herbivore, and that this increase corresponds with reduced abiotic stress tolerance. Herbivore resistance was higher, but drought tolerance was lower in plants from populations with a longer reassociation history, and this corresponded with changes in phenylpropanoids involved in insect resistance and abiotic stress tolerance. These changes were corroborated by shifts in the expression of underlying biosynthetic genes and plant anti-oxidants. Together, our findings suggest rapid evolution of plant traits after reassociation with coevolved enemies, resulting in genetically based shifts in investment between abiotic and biotic stress responses, providing insights into co-evolution, plant invasion and biological control.     

Cotton genotypic variation in the photosynthetic response to irradiance

The photosynthetic response of 8 cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) genotypes to changing irradiance was investigated under field conditions during the 1998 through 2000 growing seasons. Equations developed to describe the response of net photosynthetic rate (P_N) to photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) demonstrated that, across all irradiances, the two okra leaf-type genotypes photosynthesized at a greater rate per unit leaf area than all of the six normal leaf-type genotypes. This superior photosynthetic performance of the okra leaf-type genotypes can be partially explained by their 13 % greater leaf chlorophyll content relative to that of the normal leaf-type genotypes. The 37 % reduction in leaf size brought upon by the okra leaf trait may have concentrated the amount of photosynthetic machinery per unit leaf area. Nevertheless, the lack of sufficient canopy leaf surface area suppressed the potential yield development that could accompany the higher P_N per unit leaf area.     

Cotton genotypic variation in the photosynthetic response to irradiance

The photosynthetic response of 8 cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) genotypes to changing irradiance was investigated under field conditions during the 1998 through 2000 growing seasons. Equations developed to describe the response of net photosynthetic rate (P_N) to photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) demonstrated that, across all irradiances, the two okra leaf-type genotypes photosynthesized at a greater rate per unit leaf area than all of the six normal leaf-type genotypes. This superior photosynthetic performance of the okra leaf-type genotypes can be partially explained by their 13 % greater leaf chlorophyll content relative to that of the normal leaf-type genotypes. The 37 % reduction in leaf size brought upon by the okra leaf trait may have concentrated the amount of photosynthetic machinery per unit leaf area. Nevertheless, the lack of sufficient canopy leaf surface area suppressed the potential yield development that could accompany the higher P_N per unit leaf area.This revised version was published online in March 2005 with corrections to the page numbers.     

An invasive plant provides refuge to native plant species in an intensely grazed ecosystem

Invasion by exotic plant species and herbivory can individually alter native plant species diversity, but their interactive effects in structuring native plant communities remain little studied. Many exotic plant species escape from their co-evolved specialized herbivores in their native range (in accordance with the enemy release hypothesis). When these invasive plants are relatively unpalatable, they may act as nurse plants by reducing herbivore damage on co-occurring native plants, thereby structuring native plant communities. However, the potential for unpalatable invasive plants to structure native plant communities has been little investigated. Here, we tested whether presence of an unpalatable exotic invader Opuntia ficus-indica was associated with the structure of native plant communities in an ecosystem with a long history of grazing by ungulate herbivores. Along 17 transects (each 1000 m long), we conducted a native vegetation survey in paired invaded and uninvaded plots. Plots that harboured O. ficus-indica had higher native plant species richness and Shannon–Wiener diversity H′ than uninvaded plots. However, mean species evenness J was similar between invaded and uninvaded plots. There was no significant correlation between native plant diversity and percentage plot cover by O. ficus-indica. Presence of O. ficus-indica was associated with a compositional change in native community assemblages between paired invaded and uninvaded plots. Although these results are only correlative, they suggest that unpalatable exotic plants may play an important ecological role as refugia for maintenance of native plant diversity in intensely grazed ecosystems.     

Insect herbivory stimulates allelopathic exudation by an invasive plant and the suppression of natives

Exotic invasive plants are often subjected to attack from imported insects as a method of biological control. A fundamental, but rarely explicitly tested, assumption of biological control is that damaged plants are less fit and compete poorly. In contrast, we find that one of the most destructive invasive plants in North America, Centaurea maculosa, exudes far higher amounts of (±)‐catechin, an allelopathic chemical known to have deleterious effects on native plants, when attacked by larvae of two different root boring biocontrol insects and a parasitic fungus. We also demonstrate that C. maculosa plants experimentally attacked by one of these biocontrols exhibit more intense negative effects on natives.     

Rhizosphere microbial community and its response to plant species and soil history

The plant rhizosphere is a dynamic environment in which many parameters may influence the population structure, diversity and activity of the microbial community. Two important factors determining the structure of microbial community present in the vicinity of plant roots are plant species and soil type. In the present study we assessed the structure of microbial communities in response to four plant species (i.e. maize (Zea mays L.), oat (Avena sativa L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and commercial grass mix) planted in soil with different land use history (i.e. arable land under crop rotation, maize monoculture and permanent grassland). Both factors, plant species and land use history, showed clear effects on microbial community and diversity as determined by PCR-DGGE fingerprinting with universal and group-specific bacterial primers. Moreover, we explored the rhizosphere effect of these plant species on the abundance of bacterial antagonists of the potato pathogen Rhizoctonia solani AG3. The data showed that the abundance and taxonomic composition of antagonists differed clearly between the different plants. The highest percentages of antagonists were found in maize and grass rhizosphere. When antagonistic Pseudomonas populations were compared, the highest, abundance and diversity of antagonists were detected in barley and oat rhizospheres, as compared to maize and grass rhizosphere. The results obtained in our study demonstrate clearly that plant species and soil type are two important factors affecting the structure of total bacterial, Pseudomonas and Bacillus community.     

Using soil seed banks to assess temporal patterns of genetic variation in invasive plant populations

Most research on the genetics of invasive plant species has focused on analyzing spatial differences among existing populations. Using a long‐established Gunnera tinctoria population from Ireland, we evaluated the potential of using plants derived from seeds associated with different soil layers to track genetic variation through time. This species and site were chosen because (1) G. tinctoria produces a large and persistent seed bank; (2) it has been present in this locality, Sraheens, for ~90 years; (3) the soil is largely undisturbed; and (4) the soil's age can be reliably determined radiometrically at different depths. Amplified fragment length polymorphic markers (AFLPs) were used to assess differences in the genetic structure of 75 individuals sampled from both the standing population and from four soil layers, which spanned 18 cm (estimated at ~90 years based on ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs dating). While there are difficulties in interpreting such data, including accounting for the effects of selection, seed loss, and seed migration, a clear pattern of lower total allele counts, percentage polymorphic loci, and genetic diversity was observed in deeper soils. The greatest percentage increase in the measured genetic variables occurred prior to the shift from the lag to the exponential range expansion phases and may be of adaptive significance. These findings highlight that seed banks in areas with long‐established invasive populations can contain valuable genetic information relating to invasion processes and as such, should not be overlooked.     

Nitrogen enrichment contributes to positive responses to soil microbial communities in three invasive plant species

Increased resource availability and feedbacks with soil biota have both been invoked as potential mechanisms of plant invasion. Nitrogen (N) deposition can enhance invasion in some ecosystems, and this could be the result of increased soil N availability as well as shifts in soil biota. In a two-phase, full-factorial greenhouse experiment, we tested effects of N availability and N-impacted soil communities on growth responses of three Mediterranean plant species invasive in California: Bromus diandrus, Centaurea melitensis, and Hirschfeldia incana. In the first phase, plants were grown individually in pots and inoculated with sterile soil, soil from control field plots or soil from high N addition plots, and with or without supplemental N. In the second phase, we grew the same species in soils conditioned in the first phase. We hypothesized growth responses would differ across species due to species-specific relationships with soil biota, but overall increased N availability and N-impacted soil communities would enhance plant growth. In the first phase, Centaurea had the greatest growth response when inoculated with N-impacted soil, while Bromus and Hirschfeldia performed best in low N soil communities. However, in phase two all species exhibited positive growth responses in N-impacted soil communities under high N availability. While species may differ in responses to soil biota and N, growth responses to soils conditioned by conspecifics appear to be most positive in all species under high N availability and/or in soil communities previously impacted by simulated N deposition. Our results suggest N deposition could facilitate invasion due to direct impacts of soil N enrichment on plant growth, as well as through feedbacks with the soil microbial community.     

Interspecific variation of plant traits associated with resistance to herbivory among four species of Ficus (moraceae)

• Background and aims To understand the defensive characteristics of interspecies varieties and their responses to herbivory damage, four species of Ficus plants (Ficus altissima, F. auriculata, F. racemosa and F. hispida) were studied. They were similar in life form, but differed in successional stages. Of these, Ficus altissima is a late successional species, F. hispida is a typical pioneer and F. auriculata and F. racemosa are intermediate successional species. We addressed the following questions: (1) What is the difference in plant traits among the four species and are these traits associated with differences in herbivory damage levels? (2) What is the difference in the damage-induced changes among the four species?• Methods Herbivory damage was measured in the field on randomly planted seedlings of the four species of the same age. Defences to herbivory were also tested by feeding leaves of the four species to larvae of Asota caricae in the laboratory. A total of 14 characters such as water content, thickness, toughness, pubescence density on both sides, leaf expansion time, lifetime and the contents of total carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) were measured. Leaf calcium oxalate crystal (COC) density, total Ca and N content, leaf toughness and height were measured to investigate induced responses to artificial herbivory among the four species.• Key results and conclusions Herbivory damage in the four studied species varied greatly. The pioneer species, F. hispida, suffered the most severe herbivory damage, while the late successional species, F. altissima, showed the least damage. A combination of several characteristics such as high in content of N, Ca and P and low in leaf toughness, lifetime and C : N ratio were associated with increased herbivore damage. The late successional species, F. altissima, might also incorporate induced defence strategies by means of an increase in leaf COC and toughness.Key words: Calcium oxalate crystals, defensive characteristics, Ficus; herbivory, induced defence     

外来入侵植物对环境梯度和天敌逃逸的适应进化

进化假说认为, 在入侵地外来种能发生遗传变化, 以适应新的环境, 最终成功定殖和扩散。种内或种间杂交、遗传漂变、新环境带来的新的选择压力等是促使外来种发生进化的重要原因。在入侵地, 响应来自非生物和生物因素的选择压力是外来种发生适应进化的主要原因。本文主要介绍外来植物如何通过进化适应入侵地的纬度、海拔等非生物环境和天敌逃逸等生物环境。关于外来入侵植物对纬度和海拔等环境梯度的适应进化, 本文在强调表型进化研究应与分子标记研究相结合的基础上, 介绍了一些同质种植园实验和交互移植实验。关于外来入侵植物对天敌逃逸的适应进化, 本文主要介绍增强竞争能力的进化假说和修正的增强竞争能力的进化假说, 及其在理论上和验证方法上存在的问题。最后, 本文介绍了氮分配的进化假说, 该假说认为天敌逃逸可使外来入侵植物降低叶氮向防御的分配, 同时增加氮向光合的分配。