Although disturbance is considered a major driver of plant invasions across many systems, our understanding of the mechanisms by which disturbance mediates understorey invasions in natural forests is limited. We used a national natural forest inventory dataset spanning New Zealand's wide climatic and soil fertility gradients to disentangle disturbance‐mediated community characteristics driving abundance, species richness and functional composition of understorey plant invasions. Disturbance‐mediated declines in canopy tree abundance and increases in soil fertility and pH increased non‐native plant richness and cover relative to co‐occurring native plant assemblages. Cover of non‐native species also increased with proximity to anthropogenic land cover. Non‐native plant assemblages had higher community‐weighted mean (CWM) values for specific leaf area (SLA) but lower CWM values for height and woodiness relative to native assemblages irrespective of disturbance. However, greater nearby anthropogenic land cover drove increased woodiness in non‐native assemblages but decreased woodiness in co‐occurring native assemblages. Synthesis: Our study provides the first national‐scale evidence that canopy disturbance effects on soil properties increase both richness and abundance of non‐native plants in natural forest understories. We also revealed functional trait differences between native and non‐native assemblages (SLA in particular), which could alter fundamental forest ecosystem processes like litter decomposition and nutrient cycling. Finally, landscape‐scale anthropogenic impacts may exacerbate forest invasions by increasing non‐native abundance and favouring woody invaders, which may achieve dominance in future forest communities over the longer‐term.
Disturbance‐mediated community characteristics and anthropogenic pressure intensify understorey plant invasions in natural forests
Insu Jo,P. Bellingham,N. Mason,James K. McCarthy,D. Peltzer,Sarah J. Richardson,Elaine F. Wright
Published 2024 in Journal of Ecology
ABSTRACT
PUBLICATION RECORD
- Publication year
2024
- Venue
Journal of Ecology
- Publication date
2024-07-08
- Fields of study
Not labeled
- Identifiers
- External record
- Source metadata
Semantic Scholar
CITATION MAP
EXTRACTION MAP
CLAIMS
CONCEPTS
- anthropogenic land cover
Human-modified land surrounding the forest plots, used here as a landscape context variable.
Aliases: nearby anthropogenic land cover
- canopy tree abundance
The abundance of trees in the forest canopy, used here as a canopy structure metric.
- native plant assemblages
Indigenous understorey plant species grouped as a comparison community within a plot.
Aliases: native assemblages, co-occurring native plant assemblages
- non-native plant assemblages
Introduced understorey plant species grouped as a community within a plot.
Aliases: non-native assemblages
- plant height
Vertical stature of plants, used here as a community-weighted functional trait.
Aliases: height
- soil fertility and ph
The combined soil-condition gradient represented by fertility and acidity/alkalinity measurements in the plots.
Aliases: soil fertility, soil pH
- specific leaf area
Leaf area per unit dry mass, used here as a community-weighted functional trait.
Aliases: SLA
- woodiness
The degree to which plants have woody tissues, used here as a community-weighted functional trait.
REFERENCES
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