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Native Cuscuta campestris restrains exotic Mikania micrantha and enhances soil resources beneficial to natives in the invaded communities

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Abstract

Nutrients in exotic species and invaded communities play a key role in determining the dynamics of invaders and the invasibility of a receipt community. This study focused on the effects of the native holoparasite Cuscuta campestris (for short Cuscuta) on nutrients in the exotic invasive Mikania micrantha (for short Mikania) and stands invaded by Mikania. We conducted a set of field investigations on Mikania with Cuscuta parasitism for 1–4 years, and measured soil properties, community composition, and the growth and nutrient content of Mikania and Cuscuta in two types of sub-communities (i.e. with Mikania only, or with Mikania and Cuscuta). Cuscuta dramatically reduced the cover, biomass, and nutrients (i.e. N, P, and K content) of Mikania, significantly enhanced soil water, pH and nutrient content (i.e. organic matter, total N and P, available P and K), and greatly increased the cover and species richness of native plants. In addition, N and K of Cuscuta were positively correlated with N of Mikania, which was negatively associated with soil total N, available P and K. These findings suggest that Cuscuta may be an effective measure against Mikania and be beneficial to the restoration of invaded communities.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Feihai Yu and Shumin Zhang for their help on experimental design, Susan M. Carstenn, Chris Edelstein and Sara Neugaard for polishing this manuscript, Qijie Zan and Aiping Wu for their assistance during field investigation. This study was supported by the program entitled Oversea Distinguished Scholars of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (58246G1215) and by the Grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30770335).

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China

    Hua Yu, Wei-Ming He, Jian Liu, Shi-Li Miao & Ming Dong

  2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Hua Yu

  3. Institute of Environment Research, Shandong University, Ji’nan, 250100, China

    Jian Liu

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  1. Hua Yu
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  2. Wei-Ming He
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Correspondence to Wei-Ming He or Ming Dong.

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Yu, H., He, WM., Liu, J. et al. Native Cuscuta campestris restrains exotic Mikania micrantha and enhances soil resources beneficial to natives in the invaded communities. Biol Invasions 11, 835–844 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-008-9297-z

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