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Displacement of an herbaceous plant species community by mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal Gmelina arborea, an exotic tree, grown in a microcosm experiment

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Abstract

Gmelina arborea Roxb. (Gmelina, Yemane) is a fast growing tree, native from India and considered as a potentially invasive woody plant in West Africa. Mycorrhizal inoculation of seedlings with Glomus intraradices was performed to study (1) the effect on the growth of G. arborea, (2) the impact on the catabolic diversity of soil microbial communities and (3) the influence on the structure of herbaceous plant species communities in microcosms. Treatments consisted of control plants, pre-planting fertilizer application and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) inoculation. After 4 months’ culture in autoclaved soil, G. arborea seedlings were either harvested for growth measurement or transferred into containers filled with the same soil but not sterilized. Other containers were kept without G. arborea seedlings. After 12 months’ further culture, effects of fertilizer amendment and AM inoculation on the growth of G. arborea seedlings were recorded. AM colonization was significantly and positively correlated with plant diversity. The substrate-induced respiration response to carboxylic acids was significantly higher in the absence of G. arborea and in the presence of G. intraradices as compared to the other treatments. The influence of AM symbiosis on plant coexistence and on allelopathic processes of invasive plants are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IRD, UMR 113 CIRAD/INRA/IRD/AGRO-M/UM2, Laboratoire des Symbioses Tropicales et Méditerranéennes (LSTM), TA10/J, Campus International de Baillarguet, 34398, Montpellier, France

    Arsene Sanon & Robin Duponnois

  2. Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de Geneve, 1 Ch de l’impératrice, P.O. Box 60, 1292, Geneva, Switzerland

    Pascal Martin & Rodolphe Spichiger

  3. Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, CNRS UMR 5558, Université Lyon 1, 69622, Villeurbanne, Cedex, France

    Jean Thioulouse

  4. INRA, UMR BGA, 17 Rue Sully, 21000, Dijon, France

    Christian Plenchette

  5. IRD, Unité de Recherche IBIS (Interactions Biologiques dans les sols des systèmes anthropisés tropicaux), 01 BP182, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

    Michel Lepage

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  1. Arsene Sanon
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  2. Pascal Martin
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  3. Jean Thioulouse
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Correspondence to Christian Plenchette.

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Sanon, A., Martin, P., Thioulouse, J. et al. Displacement of an herbaceous plant species community by mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal Gmelina arborea, an exotic tree, grown in a microcosm experiment. Mycorrhiza 16, 125–132 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-005-0024-7

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