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Plant Community Diversity and Composition Provide Little Resistance to Juniperus Encroachment
Citation:
Ganguli, A. C., D. M. Engle, P. M. MAYER, AND E. C. Hellgren. Plant Community Diversity and Composition Provide Little Resistance to Juniperus Encroachment. CANADIAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY. NRC Research Press, Ottawa, Canada, 86(12):1416-1426, (2008).
Impact/Purpose:
to test whether invasion, i.e., encroachment success of J. virginiana is related to plant species diversity and composition across three plant communities. We predicted J. virginiana encroachment success would a) decrease with increasing diversity and b) J. virginiana encroachment success would be unrelated to species composition
Description:
Identifying attributes of successful invaders and traits of communities that increase susceptibility to invasion has progressed, but complex species-environment interactions limit generalizations about these relationships that might be useful to manage invasions. Using a native, invasive tree species, Juniperus virginiana, we tested whether invasion, i.e., encroachment success of J. virginiana is related to plant species diversity and composition across three plant communities. We predicted J. virginiana encroachment success would a) decrease with increasing diversity and b) J. virginiana encroachment success would be unrelated to species composition. We simulated encroachment by planting J. virginiana seedlings in tallgrass prairie, old-field grassland, and upland oak forest. We used J. virginiana survival and growth as an index of encroachment success and evaluated success as a function of plant community traits (i.e., species richness, species diversity, and species composition). Our results indicated that J. virginiana encroachment success increased with increasing plant richness and diversity. Moreover, growth and survival of J. virginiana seedlings was associated with plant species composition only in the old-field grassland. These results suggest that greater plant species diversity provides little resistance to J. virginiana encroachment and point toward resource availability and other biotic or abiotic factors as determinants of J. virginiana encroachment success.
URLs/Downloads:
PLANT COMMUNITY DIVERSITY AND COMPOSITION PROVIDE LITTLE RESISTANCE TO JUNIPERUS ENCROACHMENT
PLANT COMMUNITY DIVERSITY AND COMPOSITION PROVIDE LITTLE RESISITANCE TO JUNIPERUS ENCROACHMENT