Invasive Plants Rapidly Reshape Soil Properties in a Grassland Ecosystem

Journal Article · Tue Mar 07 00:00:00 EST 2017 · mSystems

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.00178-16· OSTI ID:1626176

Gibbons, Sean M. ^[1]; Lekberg, Ylva ^[2]; Mummey, Daniel L. ^[3]; Sangwan, Naseer ^[4]; Ramsey, Philip W. ^[3]; Gilbert, Jack A. ^[5]; Shade, Ashley ^[6]

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1. Graduate Program in Biophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA; Bioscience Division, The Microbiome Center, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois, USA; MPG Ranch, Missoula, Montana, USA; Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; DOE/OSTI
2. MPG Ranch, Missoula, Montana, USA; Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Science, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, USA
3. MPG Ranch, Missoula, Montana, USA
4. Bioscience Division, The Microbiome Center, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois, USA
5. Graduate Program in Biophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA; Bioscience Division, The Microbiome Center, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois, USA; Department of Surgery, The Microbiome Center, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA; Marine Biological Laboratory, The Microbiome Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
6. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)

In this study, we show how invasive plant species drive rapid shifts in the soil environment from surrounding native communities. Each of the three plant invaders had different but consistent effects on soils. Thus, there does not appear to be a one-size-fits-all strategy for how plant invaders alter grassland soil environments. This work represents a crucial step toward understanding how invaders might be able to prevent or impair native reestablishment by changing soil biotic and abiotic properties. Plant invasions often reduce native plant diversity and increase net primary productivity. Invaded soils appear to differ from surrounding soils in ways that impede restoration of diverse native plant communities. We hypothesize that invader-mediated shifts in edaphic properties reproducibly alter soil microbial community structure and function. Here, we take a holistic approach, characterizing plant, prokaryotic, and fungal communities and soil physicochemical properties in field sites, invasion gradients, and experimental plots for three invasive plant species that cooccur in the Rocky Mountain West. Each invader had a unique impact on soil physicochemical properties. We found that invasions drove shifts in the abundances of specific microbial taxa, while overall belowground community structure and functional potential were fairly constant. Forb invaders were generally enriched in copiotrophic bacteria with higher 16S rRNA gene copy numbers and showed greater microbial carbohydrate and nitrogen metabolic potential. Older invasions had stronger effects on abiotic soil properties, indicative of multiyear successions. Overall, we show that plant invasions are idiosyncratic in their impact on soils and are directly responsible for driving reproducible shifts in the soil environment over multiyear time scales. IMPORTANCEIn this study, we show how invasive plant species drive rapid shifts in the soil environment from surrounding native communities. Each of the three plant invaders had different but consistent effects on soils. Thus, there does not appear to be a one-size-fits-all strategy for how plant invaders alter grassland soil environments. This work represents a crucial step toward understanding how invaders might be able to prevent or impair native reestablishment by changing soil biotic and abiotic properties.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1626176
• Journal Information: mSystems, Journal Name: mSystems Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 2; ISSN 2379-5077
• Publisher: American Society for Microbiology
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Microbiology