Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Arrival order among native plant functional groups does not affect invasibility of constructed dune communities

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

Abstract

Different arrival order scenarios of native functional groups to a site may influence both resource use during development and final community structure. Arrival order may then indirectly influence community resistance to invasion. We present a mesocosm experiment of constructed coastal dune communities that monitored biotic and abiotic responses to different arrival orders of native functional groups. Constructed communities were compared with unplanted mesocosms. We then simulated a single invasion event by bitou (Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp. rotundata), a dominant exotic shrub of coastal communities. We evaluated the hypothesis that plantings with simultaneous representation of grass, herb and shrub functional groups at the beginning of the experiment would more completely sequester resources and limit invasion than staggered plantings. Staggered plantings in turn would offer greater resource use and invasion resistance than unplanted mesocosms. Contrary to our expectations, there were few effects of arrival order on abiotic variables for the duration of the experiment and arrival order was unimportant in final community invasibility. All planted mesocosms supported significantly more invader germinants and significantly less invader abundance than unplanted mesocosms. Native functional group plantings may have a nurse effect during the invader germination and establishment phase and a competitive function during the invader juvenile and adult phase. Arrival order per se did not affect resource use and community invasibility in our mesocosm experiment. While grass, herb and shrub functional group plantings will not prevent invasion success in restored communities, they may limit final invader biomass.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

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

  • Allen SE (1989) Analysis of vegetation and other organic materials. In: Allen SE (ed) Chemical analysis of ecological materials. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 46–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen JA (1997) Reforestation of bottomland hardwoods and the issue of woody species diversity. Restor Ecol 5:125–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Auld TD, Bradstock RA (1996) Soil temperatures after the passage of a fire: do they influence the germination of buried seeds? Aust J Ecol 21:106–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baskin JM, Baskin CC (1989) Physiology of dormancy and germination in relation to seed bank ecology. In: Leck MA, Parker VT, Simpson RL (eds) Ecology of soil seed banks. Academic, San Diego, pp 53–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Catovsky S, Bazzaz FA (2000) The role of resource interactions and seedling regeneration in maintaining a positive feedback in hemlock stands. J Ecol 88:100–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cavieres LA, Quiroz CL, Molina-Montenegro MA, Munoz AA, Pauchard A (2005) Nurse effect of the native cushion plant Azorella monantha on the invasive non-native Taraxacum officinale in the high-Andes of central Chile. Perspect Plant Ecol 7:217–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chadwell TB, Engelhardt KAM (2008) Effects of pre-existing submersed vegetation and propagule pressure on the invasion success of Hydrilla verticillata. J Appl Ecol 45:515–523

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corbin JD, D’Antonio CM (2004) Competition between native perennial and exotic annual grasses: implications for an historical invasion. Ecology 85:1273–1283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day RW, Quinn GP (1989) Comparisons of treatments after an analysis of variance in ecology. Ecol Monogr 59:433–463

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dean TA, Hurd LE (1980) Development in an estuarine community: the influence of early colonists on later arrivals. Oecologia 46:295–301

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickson TL, Foster BL (2011) Fertilizaton decreases plant biodiversity even when light is not limiting. Ecol Lett 14:380–388

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Diggle AJ, Bell LC (1984) Movement of applied phosphorus following the mining and revegetation of mineral sands on Australia’s east coast. Aust J Soil Res 22:135–148

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dukes JS (2001) Biodiversity and invasibility in grassland microcosms. Oecologia 126:563–568

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eaton AD, Clesceri LS, Rice EW, Greenberg A, Franson MA (2005) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. American Public Health Association, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Emery SM, Gross KL (2007) Dominant species identity, not community evenness, regulates invasion in experimental grassland plant communities. Ecology 88:954–964

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ens E-J, French K, Bremner JB (2009) Evidence for allelopathy as a mechanism of community composition change by an invasive exotic shrub, Chrysanthemoides monilifera spp. rotundata. Plant Soil 316:125–137

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fargione J, Brown CS, Tilman D (2003) Community assembly and invasion: an experimental test of neutral versus niche processes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:8916–8920

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Forge TA, Hogue EJ, Neilsen G, Neilsen D (2008) Organic mulches alter nematode communities, root growth and fluxes of phosphorus in the root zone of apple. Appl Soil Ecol 39:15–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grman E, Suding KN (2010) Within-year soil legacies contribute to strong priority effects of exotics on native California grassland communities. Restor Ecol 18:664–670

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harden GJ (1992) Flora of New South Wales, vol 3. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney

  • Harden GJ (1993) Flora of New South Wales, vol 4. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney

  • Harden GJ (2000) Flora of New South Wales, vol 1. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney

  • Harden GJ (2002) Flora of New South Wales, vol 2. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney

  • Jenkins DG, Buikema AL (1998) Do similar communities develop in similar sites? A test with zooplankton structure and function. Ecol Monogr 68:421–443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kardol P, Souza L, Classen AT (2012) Resource availability mediates the importance of priority effects in plant community assembly and ecosystem function. Oikos doi:10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.20546.x (in press)

  • Keith DA, Myerscough PJ (1993) Floristics and soil relations of upland swamp vegetation near Sydney. Aust J Ecol 18:325–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knops JMH, Tilman D, Haddad NM, Naeem S, Mitchell CE, Haarstad J, Ritchie ME, Howe KM, Reich PB, Siemann E, Groth J (1999) Effects of plant species richness on invasion dynamics, disease outbreaks, insect abundances and diversity. Ecol Lett 2:286–293

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ladd B, Facelli JM (2008) Priority effects produced by plant litter result in non-additive competitive effects. Oecologia 157:687–696

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lenz TI, Facelli JM (2003) Shade facilitates an invasive stem succulent in a chenopod shrubland in South Australia. Aust Ecol 28:480–490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindsay EA, French K (2005) Litterfall and nitrogen cycling following invasion by Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp. rotundata in coastal Australia. J Appl Ecol 42:556–566

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lulow ME (2004) Restoration in California’s inland grasslands: the role of priority effects and management strategies in establishing native communities and the ability of native grasses to resist invasion by non-native grasses. PhD dissertation, University of California, Davis

  • Mahmoodzadeh H (2010) Allelopathic plants 23. Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. Allelopath J 25:227–238

    Google Scholar 

  • Maron JL, Connors PG (1996) A native nitrogen-fixing shrub facilitates weed invasion. Oecologia 105:302–312

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mason TJ, French K (2008) Impacts of a woody invader vary in different vegetation communities. Divers Distrib 14:829–838

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mason TJ, French K, Russell K (2012) Are competitive effects of native species on an invader mediated by water availability? J Veg Sci 23:657–666

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maze KM, Whalley RDB (1992) Effects of salt spray and sand burial on Spinifex sericeus R.Br. Aust J Ecol 17:9–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McConnaughay KDM, Bazzaz FA (1991) Is physical space a soil resource? Ecology 72:94–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okin GS, Mladenov N, Wang L, Cassel D, Caylor KK, Ringrose S, Macko SA (2008) Spatial patterns of soil nutrients in two southern African savannas. J Geophys Res 113:GO2011

    Google Scholar 

  • Perry LG, Neuhauser C, Galatowitsch SM (2003) Founder control and coexistence in a simple model of asymmetric competition for light. J Theor Biol 222:425–436

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prieur-Richard A-H, Lavorel S, Grigulis K, Dos Santos A (2000) Plant community diversity and invasibility by exotics: invasion of Mediterranean old fields by Conyza bonariensis and Conyza canadansis. Ecol Lett 3:412–422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson JV, Dickerson JEJ (1987) Does invasion sequence affect community structure? Ecology 68:587–595

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheiner SM (1993) MANOVA: multiple response variables and multispecies interactions. In: Scheiner SM, Gurevitch J (eds) Design and analysis of ecological experiments. Chapman and Hall, New York, pp 94–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlesinger WH, Raikes JA, Hartley AE, Cross AF (1996) On the spatial pattern of soil nutrients in desert ecosystems. Ecology 77:364–374

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson SL, Pryor ID, Mewburn BR, Batley GE, Jolley DF (2002) Considerations for capping metal-contaminated sediments in dynamic estuarine environments. Environ Sci Technol 36:3772–3778

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Symstad AJ, Tilman D (2001) Diversity loss, recruitment limitation, and ecosystem functioning: lessons learned from a removal experiment. Oikos 92:424–435

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tackett NW, Craft CB (2010) Ecosystem development on a coastal barrier island dune chronosequence. J Coast Res 26:736–742

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Teutsch-Hausmann N, Hawkes CV (2010) Order of plant host establishment alters the composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal communities. Ecology 91:2333–2343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker J, Hopkins MS (1990) Vegetation. In: McDonald RC, Isbell RF, Speight JG, Walker J, Hopkins MS (eds) Australian soil and land survey field handbook. Inkata, Melbourne

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker LR, Landau FH, Velázquez E, Shiels AB, Sparrow AD (2010) Early successional woody plants facilitate and ferns inhibit forest development on Puerto Rican landslides. J Ecol 98:625–635

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wardle DA, Nilsson M-C, Gallet C, Zackrisson O (1998) An ecosystem-level perspective of allelopathy. Biol Rev 73:305–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welch BL (1951) On the comparison of several mean values: an alternative approach. Biometrika 38:330–336

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiegand K, Ward D, Saltz D (2005) Multi-scale patterns and bush encroachment in an arid savanna with a shallow soil layer. J Veg Sci 16:311–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilsey BJ (2010) Productivity and subordinate species response to dominant grass species and seed source during restoration. Restor Ecol 18:628–637

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young TP, Petersen DA, Clary JJ (2005) The ecology of restoration: historical links, emerging issues and unexplored realms. Ecol Lett 8:662–673

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Natalie Sullivan, Eva Watts, James Wallace, Brendon Neilly, Ben Jenner, Jamin Hudson, Emilie-Jane Ens, Corrine De Mestre, Russell McWilliam, Meron Oxley and Ben Gooden for assistance with set up, monitoring and processing the mesocosm experiment, Mohammad Almoiqli for assistance with ICP-AES analyses, Marijka Batterham for statistical advice and Brian Jones and Brent Peterson for assistance with soil coring. The manuscript was greatly improved by comments from two anonymous reviewers and the editorial team at Oecologia. Financial support for the research was provided by Land and Water Australia and NSW Environmental Trust. The experiments comply with current Australian laws.

Author information

Author notes

  1. T. J. Mason

    Present address: School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Conservation Biology and Environmental Management, School of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    T. J. Mason & K. French

  2. School of Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    D. Jolley

Authors
  1. T. J. Mason
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. K. French
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. D. Jolley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to T. J. Mason.

Additional information

Communicated by Bryan Foster.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.e

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 13 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mason, T.J., French, K. & Jolley, D. Arrival order among native plant functional groups does not affect invasibility of constructed dune communities. Oecologia 173, 557–568 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-013-2628-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-013-2628-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation