Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The native–invasive balance: implications for nutrient cycling in ecosystems

  • Global change ecology - Original research
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We conducted single- and mixed-litter experiments in a hardwood forest in Long Island, New York, using leaf litter from phylogenetically paired native and invasive species. We selected long-established, abundant invasive species with wide-ranging distributions in the eastern United States that likely make substantial contributions to the litter pool of invaded areas. Overall, leaf litter from invasive species differed from native litter, though differences varied by phylogenetic grouping. Invasive litter had lower carbon:nitrogen ratios (30.9 ± 1.96 SE vs. 32.8 ± 1.36, P = 0.034) and invasive species lost 0.03 ± 0.007 g of nitrogen and had 23.4 ± 4.9 % of their starting mass remaining at the end of 1 year compared with a loss of 0.02 ± 0.003 g nitrogen and 31.1 ± 2.6 % mass remaining for native species. Mixing litter from two species did not alter decomposition rates when native species were mixed with other native species, or when invasive species were mixed with other invasive species. However, mixing litter of native and invasive species resulted in significantly less mass and nitrogen loss than was seen in unmixed invasive litter. Mixtures of native and invasive litter lost all but 47 ± 2.2 % of initial mass, compared to 37 ± 5.8 % for invasive litter and 50 ± 5.1 % for native litter. This non-additive effect of mixing native and invasive litter suggests that an additive model of metabolic characteristics may not suffice for predicting invasion impacts in a community context, particularly as invasion proceeds over time. Because the more rapid decomposition of invasive litter tends to slow to rates typical of native species when native and invasive litters are mixed together, there may be little impact of invasive species on nutrient cycling early in an invasion, when native leaf litter is abundant (providing litter deposition is the dominant control on nutrient cycling).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aber JD, Melillo JM, McClaugherty CA (1990) Predicting long-term patterns of mass loss, nitrogen dynamics, and soil organic matter formation from the initial fine litter chemistry in temperate forest ecosystems. Can J Bot 68:2201–2208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agrawal AA, Kotanen PM, Mitchell CE, Power AG, Godsoe W, Klironomos J (2005) Enemy release? An experiment with congeneric plant pairs and diverse above- and belowground enemies. Ecology 86:2979–2989

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashton IW, Hyatt LA, Howe KM, Gurevitch J, Lerdau MT (2005) Invasive species accelerate decomposition and litter nitrogen loss in a mixed deciduous forest. Ecol Appl 15:1263–1272

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becerra JX (1997) Insects on plants: macroevolutionary chemical trends in host use. Science 276:253–256

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chapin FS (1980) The mineral nutrition of plants. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 11:233–260

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrenfeld JG (2003) Effects of exotic plant invasions on soil nutrient cycling processes. Ecosystems 6:503–523

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich PR, Birch LC (1967) Balance of nature and population control. Am Nat 101:97–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Funk JL, Vitousek PM (2007) Resource-use efficiency and plant invasion in low-resource systems. Nature 446:1079–1081

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fyles JW, Fyles IH (1993) Interaction of douglas fir with red alder and salal foliage litter during decomposition. Can J For Res, 23:358–361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gartner TB, Cardon ZG (2004) Decomposition dynamics in mixed-species leaf litter. Oikos 104:230–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gessner MO, Swan CM, Dang CK, McKie BG, Bardgett RD, Wall DH, Hattenschwiler S (2010) Diversity meets decomposition. Trends Ecol Evol 25:372–380

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harmon ME, Nadelhoffer K, Blair JM (1999) Measuring decomposition, nutrient turnover, and stores in plant litter. In: Robertson GP, Coleman DCC, Bledsoe CS, Sollins P (eds) Standard soil methods for long-term ecological research. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 220–240

    Google Scholar 

  • Haubensak KA, D’Antonio CM, Alexander J (2004) Effects of nitrogen-fixing shrubs in Washington and coastal California. Weed Technol 18:1475–1479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hickman JE, Wu SL, Mickley LJ, Lerdau MT (2010) Kudzu (Pueraria montana) invasion doubles emissions of nitric oxide and increases ozone pollution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107:10115–10119

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbie SE (1992) Effects of plant-species on nutrient cycling. Trends Ecol Evol 7:336–339

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbie SE (1996) Temperature and plant species control over litter decomposition in Alaskan tundra. Ecol Monogr 66:503–522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howard TG, Gurevitch J, Hyatt LM, Carreiro M, Lerdau MT (2004) Forest invasibility in communities in southeastern New York. Biol Invasions 6:393–410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kortekamp A (2006) Expression analysis of defence-related genes in grapevine leaves after inoculation with a host and a non-host pathogen. Plant Physiol Biochem 44:58–67

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kourtev PS, Ehrenfeld JG, Huang WZ (1998) Effects of exotic plant species on soil properties in hardwood forests of New Jersey. Water Air Soil Pollut 105:493–501

    Google Scholar 

  • Lecerf A, Marie G, Kominoski JS, LeRoy CJ, Bernadet C, Swan CM (2011) Incubation time, functional litter diversity, and habitat characteristics predict litter-mixing effects on decomposition. Ecology 92:160–169

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Levine JM, Pachepsky E, Kendall BE, Yelenik SG, HilleRisLambers J (2006) Plant–soil feedbacks and invasive spread. Ecol Lett 9:1005–1014

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liao CZ, Peng RH, Luo YQ, Zhou XH, Wu XW, Fang CM, Chen JK, Li B (2008) Altered ecosystem carbon and nitrogen cycles by plant invasion: a meta-analysis. New Phytol 177:706–714

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Martin RE, Asner GP, Ansley RJ, Mosier AR (2003) Effects of woody vegetation encroachment on soil nitrogen oxide emissions in a temperate savanna. Ecol Appl 13:897–910

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McArthur JV, Aho JM, Rader RB, Mills GL (1994) Interspecific leaf interactions during decomposition in aquatic and floodplain ecosystems. J North Am Benthol Soc 13:57–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meisner A, de Boer W, Cornelissen JHC, van der Putten WH (2012) Reciprocal effects of litter from exotic and congeneric native plant species via soil nutrients. PLoS One 7:e31596

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Melillo JM, Aber JD, Muratore JF (1982) Nitrogen and lignin control of hardwood leaf litter decomposition dynamics. Ecology 63:621–626

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson MC, Wardle DA, Dahlberg A (1999) Effects of plant litter species composition and diversity on the boreal forest plant–soil system. Oikos 86:16–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rice SK, Westerman B, Federici R (2004) Impacts of the exotic, nitrogen-fixing black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) on nitrogen-cycling in a pine-oak ecosystem. Plant Ecol 174:97–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salamanca EF, Kaneko N, Katagiri S (1998) Effects of leaf litter mixtures on the decomposition of Quercus serrata and Pinus densiflora using field and laboratory microcosm methods. Ecol Eng 10:53–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scowcroft PG (1997) Mass and nutrient dynamics of decaying litter from Passiflora mollissima and selected native species in a Hawaiian montane rain forest. J Trop Ecol 13:407–426

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shure DJ, Wilson LA (1993) Patch size effects on plant phenolics in successional openings of the southern Appalachians. Ecology 74:55–67

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Swan CM, Healy B, Richardson DC (2008) The role of native riparian tree species in decomposition of invasive tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) leaf litter in an urban stream. Ecoscience 15:27–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swift MJ, Heal OW, Anderson JM (1979) Decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • USDA, NRCS (2012) The plants database. National plant data team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA. http://plants.usda.gov. Accessed 29 August 2012

  • Vitousek P (1982) Nutrient cycling and nutrient use efficiency. Am Nat 119:553–572

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek PM, Walker LR (1989) Biological invasion by Myrica-Faya in Hawaii—plant demography, nitrogen-fixation, ecosystem effects. Ecol Monogr 59:247–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wedin DA, Tilman D (1990) Species effects on nitrogen cycling—a test with perennial grasses. Oecologia 84:433–441

    Google Scholar 

  • Witkowski ETF (1991) Effects of invasive alien acacias on nutrient cycling in the coastal lowlands of the Cape Fynbos. J Appl Ecol 28:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank The Nature Conservancy for their cooperation, Wei Wang and Pengfei Zang for statistical advice, and Zoe Cardon, Howard Epstein, and Deborah Lawrence for providing comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jonathan E. Hickman.

Additional information

Communicated by Michael Madritch.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hickman, J.E., Ashton, I.W., Howe, K.M. et al. The native–invasive balance: implications for nutrient cycling in ecosystems. Oecologia 173, 319–328 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-013-2607-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-013-2607-x

Keywords

Navigation