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Effects of Praxelis clematidea invasion on soil nitrogen fractions and transformation rates in a tropical savanna

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Abstract

Plant invasion has been reported to affect a mass of soil ecological processes and functions, although invasion effects are often context-, species- and ecosystem- specific. This study was conducted to explore potential impacts of Praxelis clematidea invasion on contents of total and available soil nitrogen (N) and microbial N transformations in a tropical savanna. Soil samples were collected from the surface and sub-surface layers in plots with non-, slight, or severe P. clematidea invasion in Hainan Province of southern China, which remains less studied, and analyzed for contents of the total and available N fractions and microbial N transformations. Results showed that total N content significantly increased in the surface soil but trended to decrease in the sub-surface soil in the invaded plots relative to the non-invaded control. Slight invasion significantly increased soil alkali-hydrolysable N content in the two soil layers. Soil net N mineralization rate was not significantly changed in both the soil layers, although soil microbial biomass N was significantly higher in plots with severe invasion than the control. There was no significant difference in content of soil N fractions between plots with slight and severe invasion. Our results suggest that invasion of P. clematidea promotes soil N accumulation in the surface soil layer, which is associated with increased microbial biomass N. However, the invasion-induced ecological impacts did not increase with further invasion. Significantly higher microbial biomass N was maintained in plots with severe invasion, implying that severe P. clematidea invasion may accelerate nutrient cycling in invaded ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

Anonymous reviewers are appreciated to help us improve our manuscript, with good suggestion on the data process and discussion. This research was funded by the Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of China (No. 20124404110009), Foundation for High-level Talents in Higher Education of Guangdong, China ([2013] No. 246), Science and Technology Program of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2015B090903077 and 2015A020215021), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31500401).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, College of Natural Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China

    Hui Wei, Jialin Xu, Jiaen Zhang & Zhong Qin

  2. Key Laboratory of Agro-Environment in the Tropics, Ministry of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China

    Hui Wei, Jiaen Zhang & Zhong Qin

  3. Guangdong Engineering Research Center for Modern Eco-agriculture and Circular Agriculture, Guangzhou, 510642, China

    Hui Wei, Guoming Quan, Jiaen Zhang & Zhong Qin

  4. Department of Urban Construction Engineering, Guangzhou City Polytechnic, Guangzhou, 510405, China

    Guoming Quan

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  1. Hui Wei
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Correspondence to Jiaen Zhang.

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Responsible Editor: Zhihong Xu

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Wei, H., Xu, J., Quan, G. et al. Effects of Praxelis clematidea invasion on soil nitrogen fractions and transformation rates in a tropical savanna. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 3654–3663 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-8127-6

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