Nutrient enrichment alters impacts of Hydrocotyle vulgaris invasion on native plant communities.

ABSTRACT: Nutrients may affect the invasiveness of alien plants and the invasibility of native plant communities. We performed a greenhouse experiment to investigate the interactive effect of invasion by a clonal herb Hydrocotyle vulgaris and nutrient enrichment on biomass and evenness of native plant communities. We established three types of plant communities (H. vulgaris alone, native plant communities without or with H. vulgaris) under low and high levels of nutrients. Native communities consisted of eight native, terrestrial species of three functional groups, i.e. four grasses, two legumes, and two forbs. Invasion of H. vulgaris had no effect on biomass of the native community, the functional groups, or the individual species. High nutrients increased biomass of grasses, but reduced evenness o

SUBMITTER: Liu L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5172361 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature