An invasive plant rapidly increased the similarity of soil fungal pathogen communities.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Plant invasions can change soil microbial communities and affect subsequent invasions directly or indirectly via foliar herbivory. It has been proposed that invaders promote uniform biotic communities that displace diverse, spatially variable communities (the biotic homogenization hypothesis), but this has not been experimentally tested for soil microbial communities, so the underlying mechanisms and dynamics are unclear. Here, we compared density-dependent impacts of the invasive plant Alternanthera philoxeroides and its native congener A. sessilis on soil fungal communities, and their feedback effects on plants and a foliar beetle.

Methods

We conducted a plant-soil feedback (PSF) experiment and a laboratory bioassay to examine PSFs associated with the n

SUBMITTER: Wang M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7872125 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature