J Plant Ecol ›› 2022, Vol. 15 ›› Issue (3): 625-638 .DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtab074

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Relative abundance of invasive plants more effectively explains the response of wetland communities to different invasion degrees than phylogenetic evenness

Kai Sun1, Xuan-Shao Liu1, Tian-Jian Qin2, Fan Jiang1, Jing-Fang Cai1,†, Yi-Luan Shen1, Si-Ha A1 and Hong-Li Li1,*   

  1. 1 The Key Laboratory of Ecological Protection in the Yellow River Basin of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China, 2 Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen, Groningen 9747 AG, The Netherlands

    *Corresponding author. E-mail: lihongli327@163.com
    † These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • Received:2021-06-02 Revised:2021-06-11 Accepted:2021-06-24 Online:2021-07-07 Published:2022-06-01

Abstract:

Native plant communities are commonly invaded by invasive plants to different degrees. However, the relative contribution of the invasive plant abundance vs. phylogenetic evenness to the responses of wetland communities to different degrees of invasion is still unclear. In addition, whether such contribution varies with environmental conditions such as flooding is also unclear. To address these questions, we chose Alternanthera philoxeroides as the invasive plant, and set up four invasive degrees by changing the community species composition under both flooding and non-flooding conditions. The relative abundance of A. philoxeroides and phylogenetic evenness changed simultaneously with the change in the community invasion degree. The invasion degree significantly affected the individual biomass of A. philoxeroides and some native species. Variation partitioning showed that the relative abundance of A. philoxeroides contributed more to variation in community indicators than phylogenetic evenness, regardless of flooding. Spearman rank correlation test showed that the relative abundance of A. philoxeroides was negatively correlated with the individual biomass of A. philoxeroides and some native species, while the phylogenetic evenness was positively correlated with only a few native species. And their correlation strength and significance were all affected by specific species and flooded environment. In conclusion, our results suggest that the relative abundance of A. philoxeroides can more effectively explain the wetland community response to different invasion degrees than phylogenetic evenness, regardless of flooding.

Key words: biotic resistance, habitat effect, invasion process, invasion level, phylogeny

摘要:
入侵植物的相对多度比群落系统发育均匀度更能解释湿地群落对不同入侵程度的响应
本地植物群落普遍受到入侵植物不同程度的入侵。然而,入侵植物相对多度与群落系统发育均匀度对不同入侵程度下湿地植物群落响应入侵的相对贡献尚不明确。此外,这种贡献是否随淹水等环境 条件的变化而变化也不清楚。为了探讨这些问题,我们选择空心莲子草(Alternanthera philoxeroides)作为入侵植物,通过改变植物群落物种组成,构建了4个不同的入侵程度,并且设置了水淹和无水淹两种处理。 改变群落入侵程度的同时改变了空心莲子草的相对多度和群落的系统发育均匀度。研究结果表明,不同的入侵程度显著影响了空心莲子草和一些本地物种的单株生物量。变异分割结果表明,无论淹水情况结果如何,空心莲子草相对多度对植物群落指标变异的贡献都大于系统发育均匀度。斯皮尔曼等级相关检验结果表明,空心莲子草的相对多度与空心莲子草和部分本地物种的单株生物量显著负相关;群落系统发育均匀度仅与少数本地种性状显著正相关。其相关强度和显著性均受特定的物种和水淹环境的影响。总之,这些研究结果表明:无论淹水情况如何,入侵植物(空心莲子草)的相对多度都比群落的系统发育均匀度更能有效地解释湿地植物群落对不同入侵程度的响应。

关键词: 生物抵抗力, 栖息地效应, 入侵过程, 入侵水平, 系统发育效应