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Invasive plants decrease microbial capacity to nitrify and denitrify compared to native California grassland communities

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Abstract

Exotic plant invasions are a major driver of global environmental change that can significantly alter the availability of limiting nutrients such as nitrogen (N). Beginning with European colonization of California, native grasslands were replaced almost entirely by annual exotic grasses, many of which are now so ubiquitous that they are considered part of the regional flora (“naturalized”). A new wave of invasive plants, such as Aegilops triuncialis (Barb goatgrass) and Elymus caput-medusae (Medusahead), continue to spread throughout the state today. To determine whether these new-wave invasive plants alter soil N dynamics, we measured inorganic N pools, nitrification and denitrification potentials, and possible mediating factors such as microbial biomass and soil pH in experimental grasslands comprised of A. triuncialis and E. caput-medusae. We compared these measurements with those from experimental grasslands containing: (1) native annuals and perennials and (2) naturalized exotic annuals. We found that A. triuncialis and E. caput-medusae significantly reduced ion-exchange resin estimates of nitrate (NO3 −) availability as well as nitrification and denitrification potentials compared to native communities. Active microbial biomass was also lower in invaded soils. In contrast, potential measurements of nitrification and denitrification were similar between invaded and naturalized communities. These results suggest that invasion by A. triuncialis and E. caput-medusae may significantly alter the capacity for soil microbial communities to nitrify or denitrify, and by extension alter soil N availability and rates of N transformations during invasion of remnant native-dominated sites.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Jill Baty, Abby Dziegel, Grant Iveson-Lane, Emma McCorkle, Nicholas Marlowe, and Erin Stacy for their help in sample collection and preparation. The experimental design and setup was greatly facilitated with technical and labor support from the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences Field Services, led by James Jackson. Funding for the experimental design and setup was provided by the USDA NIFA NRI Controlling Weedy and Invasive Plants Program (Grant No. 2006-55320-17247), Kearney Foundation of Soil Science, Hatch Funding, and Packard Foundation funding to the UC Agriculture Sustainability Institute.

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  1. Chelsea J. Carey

    Present address: Point Blue Conservation Science, Petaluma, CA, 94954, USA

  2. Joseph C. Blankinship

    Present address: Department of Soil, Water, and Environmental Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Systems Graduate Program, University of California, Merced, CA, 95343, USA

    Chelsea J. Carey

  2. Life and Environmental Sciences and Sierra Nevada Research Institute, University of California, Merced, CA, 95343, USA

    Joseph C. Blankinship & Stephen C. Hart

  3. Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Valerie T. Eviner

  4. Department of Plant Biology and Graduate Program in Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Carolyn M. Malmstrom

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Correspondence to Chelsea J. Carey.

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Carey, C.J., Blankinship, J.C., Eviner, V.T. et al. Invasive plants decrease microbial capacity to nitrify and denitrify compared to native California grassland communities. Biol Invasions 19, 2941–2957 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-017-1497-y

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