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Influence of light and nutrient conditions on seedling growth of native and invasive trees in the Seychelles

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Abstract

Several recent studies have shown that plant invasions can occur in resource-poor and relatively undisturbed habitats. It is, therefore, important to investigate whether and how life-history traits of species invasive in such habitats differ from those of species that are only invasive in disturbed and resource rich habitats. We compared the growth of seedlings of native and invasive tree species from nutrient-poor secondary forests in the tropical Seychelles. We hypothesised that the relative performance of the two groups would change predictably along resource gradients, with native species performing better at low levels of resource availability and invasive species performing better at higher levels. To test this hypothesis, we performed a common garden experiment using seedlings of six invasive and seven native tree species grown under three levels of light (65, 11 and 3.5% of ambient light) and two of nutrients (low and high). Due to large variation among species, differences in growth rates (RGR) were not significant among seedlings of the native and the invasive species. However, seedlings of the invasive species showed higher specific leaf areas (SLA) and higher leaf nutrient contents than seedlings of the native species. They also exhibited greater plasticity in biomass and nutrient allocation (i.e., greater plasticity in LAR, RSR and leaf nutrient contents) in response to varying resource availability. However, differences between the mean values of these parameters were generally small compared with variation within groups. We conclude that successful invaders on nutrient-poor soils in the Seychelles are either stress-tolerant, possessing growth traits similar to those of the native species, or fast-growing but adapted to nutrient-poor soils. In contrast, the more typical, fast-growing alien species with no particular adaptations to nutrient-poor soils seem to be restricted to relative nutrient-rich sites in the lowlands. The finding—that some introduced species thrive in resource-poor habitats—suggests that undisturbed habitats with low resource availability may be less resistant to plant invasions than was previously supposed.

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Abbreviations

HR:

High radiation

IR:

Intermediate radiation

LR:

Low radiation

HN:

High nutrient availability

LN:

Low nutrient availability

RGRDW :

Relative growth rate of total dry weight

RGRLA :

Relative growth rate of leaf area

RootDW :

Root dry weight

SLA:

Specific leaf area

LAR:

Leaf area ratio

RSR:

Root:shoot ratio

N:

Nitrogen

P:

Phosphorus

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Seychelles Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources for their support with conducting the experiment, and particularly the staff of the Sans Souci forestry station for their assistance with the common garden experiment. At the Institute of Integrative Biology (ETH Zurich), Sabine Güsewell provided statistical advice, and Rose Trachsler and Marilyn Gaschen assisted with the chemical analyses of leaf and soil samples.

All experiments were performed after review by the local Ministry of Environment and complied with the current laws of the Seychelles. Funding was provided by a research grant from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) to HD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Integrative Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Universitätsstrasse 18, CH-8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Eva Schumacher, Christoph Kueffer, Peter J. Edwards & Hansjörg Dietz

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  1. Eva Schumacher
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  2. Christoph Kueffer
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  3. Peter J. Edwards
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  4. Hansjörg Dietz
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Correspondence to Eva Schumacher.

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Schumacher, E., Kueffer, C., Edwards, P.J. et al. Influence of light and nutrient conditions on seedling growth of native and invasive trees in the Seychelles. Biol Invasions 11, 1941–1954 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-008-9371-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-008-9371-6

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