Lespedeza cuneata invasion alters soils facilitating its own growth

• Published in: Biological invasions Vol. 16; no. 8; pp. 1735 - 1742
• Main Authors: Coykendall, Katherine E, Houseman, Gregory R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer-Verlag 01-08-2014; Springer International Publishing; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; autoclaving; Biological and medical sciences; biomass; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Developmental Biology; Ecology; Erosion control; field experimentation; forage; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Grasslands; greenhouse experimentation; Indigenous plants; Indigenous species; Legumes; Lespedeza cuneata; Life Sciences; Microbial activity; microbial communities; nodulation; Nonnative species; Original Paper; Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking; Plant ecology; Plant Sciences; soil; Soils; Sorghastrum nutans; Plant-soil feedback; Invasive biology; Biological invasion; Growth; Soils; Invasive species; Leguminosae; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Lespedeza cuneata; Spermatophyta; Soil plant relation; Environmental monitoring; Environmental protection
• ISSN: 1387-3547; 1573-1464
• DOI: 10.1007/s10530-013-0623-8

Lespedeza cuneata (sericea) is an Asian legume introduced to the US in the 1930s for erosion control and forage, but it can strongly reduce the abundance of native grassland plants. One possible explanation for this high invasive capacity is that L. cuneata is able to alter soil conditions to either improve its own growth, or reduce growth of native plants. To test for soil alteration following invasion, we collected soil from a previous 3-year field experiment in which L. cuneata was established in or excluded from randomly selected plots in a restored grassland. These soil history treatments were crossed with soil autoclaving—to disrupt microbial communities potentially important to plant interactions. For each treatment combination, a native plant, Sorghastrum nutans, was grown with L. cuneata or a conspecific in a 12-week greenhouse experiment. Although we found no evidence for competitive effects on the native species, L. cuneata biomass increased when grown in soil with a L. cuneata history as opposed to non-invaded soil (F ₁, ₁₆ = 4.79, P = 0.04). Additionally, nodulation of L. cuneata increased in invaded compared to non-invaded soil (F ₁, ₁₆ = 6.01, P = 0.026). These results indicate that, within three years of invasion, L. cuneata is able to alter soils to facilitate its own growth and suggest that at least part of the invasive success of L. cuneata is linked to altered soil conditions.