Streetlights positively affect the presence of an invasive grass species

Streetlights positively affect the presence of an invasive grass species

Anthropogenic disturbances associated with urban ecosystems can create favorable conditions for populations of some invasive plant species. Light pollution is one of these disturbances, but how it affects the growth and establishment of invasive plant populations is unknown. Cheatgrass (Bromus tecto...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology and evolution Vol. 11; no. 15; pp. 10320 - 10326
Main Authors: Murphy, Shannon M., Vyas, Dhaval K., Hoffman, Jennifer L., Jenck, Clara S., Washburn, Brooke A., Hunnicutt, Kelsie E., Davidson, Angie, Andersen, Jasmine M., Bennet, Rachel K., Gifford, Amarin, Herrera, Mia, Lawler, Braelynn, Lorman, Sophie, Peacock, Vanessa, Walker, Lyndi, Watkins, Esme, Wilkinson, Lakyn, Williams, Zariah, Tinghitella, Robin M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-08-2021
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Wiley
Subjects:
Anthropogenic factors
artificial lights
Bromus tectorum
cheatgrass
Disturbances
Ecological studies
Ecosystems
Grasses
Grasslands
Introduced species
Invasive plants
Invasive species
Light
Light pollution
Light sources
Nonnative species
Original Research
Phenology
Physiology
plant invasion
Plant populations
Plant species
Polls & surveys
Populations
Seeds
Streets
Urban areas
Urban environments
Urban populations
Utility poles
United States > US
light pollution
plant invasion
cheatgrass
artificial lights
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Summary:Anthropogenic disturbances associated with urban ecosystems can create favorable conditions for populations of some invasive plant species. Light pollution is one of these disturbances, but how it affects the growth and establishment of invasive plant populations is unknown. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is a problematic invasive species where it has displaced native grassland communities in the United States, but to our knowledge, there have been no studies of the ecological factors that affect cheatgrass presence in urban ecosystems. We conducted field surveys in urban alleys in Denver, Colorado, to compare the presence of cheatgrass at sites with and without artificial light at night (hereafter artificial light) from streetlights. These streetlights are mounted on utility poles, which cause ground disturbance when installed in alleys; we were able to test the independent effect of poles on cheatgrass establishment because not all poles have streetlights on them. We found that cheatgrass was positively associated with the presence of streetlights and to a lesser extent poles. In addition to cheatgrass, we also found that other plants were positively associated with the presence of both poles and streetlights. Our results suggest that artificial light may benefit the occurrence of cheatgrass and other plant species in urban settings. While invasive populations of cheatgrass in wild habitats attract the most attention from managers, we suggest more consideration for this grass in urban environments where its growth and establishment benefit from anthropogenic changes. We have found that light pollution facilitates an invasive plant species, cheatgrass. Ours is the first study to document the effect of this global change driver, artificial light at night, on this important invasive plant species.
Bibliography:Amarin Gifford, Mia Herrera, Braelynn Lawler, Sophie Lorman, Vanessa Peacock, Lyndi Walker, Esme Watkins, Lakyn Wilkinson and Zariah Williams contributed equally and are listed in alphabetical order.
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ISSN:2045-7758
2045-7758
DOI:10.1002/ece3.7835