Invasive Melinis minutiflora outperforms native species, but the magnitude of the effect is context-dependent

Impacts of invasive species are context-dependent owing to genetic differences in the invasive species, in the abiotic environment or the recipient biotas. Here, we tested how these factors affected the invasive grass Melinis minutiflora and its impacts on native plants in Hawai’i (USA) and in the B...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Biological invasions Vol. 21; no. 2; pp. 657 - 667
Main Authors:	Zenni, Rafael D., Sampaio, Alexandre B., Lima, Yara P., Pessoa-Filho, Marco, Lins, Tulio C. L., Pivello, Vania R., Daehler, Curtis
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Cham Springer International Publishing 01-02-2019 Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:	Abiotic factors Biomedical and Life Sciences Clusters Competition Developmental Biology Ecology Environmental conditions Fertilization Freshwater & Marine Ecology Gene polymorphism Indigenous plants Indigenous species Interspecific Introduced species Invasive species Irrigation Life Sciences Melinis minutiflora Native species Nonnative species Nutrients Original Paper Plant Sciences Polymorphism Shade Shading Soil nutrients Brazil Molasses grass Hawai’i Invasion biogeography Invasiveness Brazil Cerrado Invasion ecology
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Summary:	Impacts of invasive species are context-dependent owing to genetic differences in the invasive species, in the abiotic environment or the recipient biotas. Here, we tested how these factors affected the invasive grass Melinis minutiflora and its impacts on native plants in Hawai’i (USA) and in the Brazilian Cerrado under four environmental conditions. We sampled M. minutiflora and three native species from each studied region and conducted two equivalent greenhouse experiments. In each experiment, we manipulated shade, irrigation, soil nutrients, and interspecific competition. We found that M. minutiflora had low genetic polymorphism, and two distinct genetic clusters exist. Both clusters exist in Hawai’i and Brazil. Melinis minutiflora biomass was three-times greater in Brazil compared to Hawai’i. Both in Brazil and Hawai’i, M. minutiflora was affected by shade, irrigation, and competition. While in Brazil the identity of the competing native species did not matter for M. minutiflora , in Hawai’i the identity of the native species affected M. minutiflora when shade was applied. Brazilian native species were all affected by shading, two of them by competition with M. minutiflora , and one of them by fertilization. Two Hawaiian native plants were affected by shade and competition with M. minutiflora , whereas one native species was not affected by any of the experimental factors. In summary, both biotic and abiotic factors affected native and invasive species. However, in all cases native species were outperformed by the invader.
ISSN:	1387-3547 1573-1464
DOI:	10.1007/s10530-018-1854-5