Abstract
Acer ginnala Maxim. (Amur maple) is a growing threat to woodland systems in North America. Despite this, Amur maple has been largely ignored by ecologists, and scientific understanding of the species is mostly limited to anecdotal evidence from land managers. We evaluated the cover and richness of native and exotic understory plant communities under Amur maple canopies, native tree canopies, and nearby open areas near St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. Overall, Amur maple created dense canopies that only allowed 2% canopy light penetration, strongly reducing cover of all plants except Amur maple. With this critical first step in understanding the impacts of Amur maple complete, we suggest key research priorities related to the distribution of Amur maple, its mechanisms and impacts of invasion, and how best to control its spread in order to encourage future research into Amur maple and mitigate the species’ potential for ecological and economic harm.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amur maple (Acer ginnala) - EDDMapS Southeast Distribution. In: EDDMapS. http://www.eddmaps.org/distribution/uscounty.cfm?sub=3965. Accessed 15 Sept 2016
Amur maple (Not recommended)|The Morton Arboretum. http://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/tree-plant-descriptions/amur-maple-not-recommended. Accessed 19 Sept 2016
Amur maple - Invasive species. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/terrestrialplants/woody/amurmaple.html. Accessed 15 Sep 2016
An H, Shangguan Z (2010) Leaf stoichiometric trait and specific leaf area of dominant species in the secondary succession of the loess plateau. Pol J Ecol 58:103–113
Anderson RC, Loucks OL, Swain AM (1969) Herbaceous response to canopy cover, light intensity, and throughfall precipitation in coniferous forests. Ecology 50:255–263. https://doi.org/10.2307/1934853
Bailey LH (1924) Manual of cultivated plants. Macmillan Co., New York
Bauer J (2012) Invasive species: “back-seat drivers” of ecosystem change? Biol Invasions 14:1295–1304. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-011-0165-x
Bonner FT, Karrfalt RP (2008) The woody plant seed manual. USDA Forest Service, Washington
Canham CD, Denslow JS, Platt WJ et al (1990) Light regimes beneath closed canopies and tree-fall gaps in temperate and tropical forests. Can J For Res 20:620–631. https://doi.org/10.1139/x90-084
Cawly J, Newton S, Bolyard M (2005) Allelopathic activity of a testa-derived solution from Siberian maple (Acer ginnala Maxim.) seeds. Allelopath J 16:227–238
Clinton BD, Boring LR, Swank WT (1994) Regeneration patterns in canopy gaps of mixed-oak forests of the southern appalachians: influences of topographic position and evergreen understory. Am Midl Nat 132:308–319. https://doi.org/10.2307/2426587
Crooks JA (2005) Lag times and exotic species: the ecology and management of biological invasions in slow-motion. Ecoscience 12:316–329. https://doi.org/10.2980/i1195-6860-12-3-316.1
Diez JM, Williams PA, Randall RP et al (2009) Learning from failures: testing broad taxonomic hypotheses about plant naturalization. Ecol Lett 12:1174–1183. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01376.x
Dirr M (1997) Dirr’s hardy trees and shrubs: an illustrated encyclopedia. Timber Press, Incorporated
Drenovsky RE, Grewell BJ, D’Antonio CM et al (2012) A functional trait perspective on plant invasion. Ann Bot. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcs100
Ehrenfeld JG (2010) Ecosystem consequences of biological invasions. In: Futuyma D, Shafer H, Simberloff D (eds) Annual review of ecology, evolution, and systematics, vol 41. Annual Reviews, Palo Alto, pp 59–80
Ellsworth DS, Reich PB (1992) Leaf mass per area, nitrogen content and photosynthetic carbon gain in Acer saccharum seedlings in contrasting forest light environments. Funct Ecol 6:423–435. https://doi.org/10.2307/2389280
Fang W, Wang X (2011) Impact of invasion of Acer platanoides on canopy structure and understory seedling growth in a hardwood forest in North America. Trees 25:455–464. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-010-0520-z
Forrester JA, Lorimer CG, Dyer JH et al (2014) Response of tree regeneration to experimental gap creation and deer herbivory in north temperate forests. For Ecol Manag 329:137–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.06.025
Fridley JD (2012) Extended leaf phenology and the autumn niche in deciduous forest invasions. Nature 485:359–362. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11056
Galbraith-Kent SL, Handel SN (2008) Invasive Acer platanoides inhibits native sapling growth in forest understorey communities. J Ecol 96:293–302. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2007.01337.x
Gilman E, Watson D (1993) Acer ginnala. USDA Forest Service, Washington
Grotkopp E, Rejmanek M (2007) High seedling relative growth rate and specific leaf area are traits of invasive species: phylogenetically independent contrasts of woody angiospernis. Am J Bot 94:526–532. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.94.4.526
Grotkopp E, Erskine-Ogden J, Rejmanek M (2010) Assessing potential invasiveness of woody horticultural plant species using seedling growth rate traits. J Appl Ecol 47:1320–1328. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2010.01878.x
Guo H, Zhao H, Wang S et al (2015) Determining the recruitment limitation of three native woody species in the Chinese pine (Pinus tabuliformis Carr.) plantations on the Loess Plateau, China. Scand J For Res 30:538–546. https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2015.1035671
Hartman KM, McCarthy BC (2004) Restoration of a forest understory after the removal of an invasive shrub, Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii). Restor Ecol 12:154–165. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1061-2971.2004.00368.x
Knight KS, Kurylo JS, Endress AG et al (2007) Ecology and ecosystem impacts of common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica): a review. Biol Invasions 9:925–937. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-007-9091-3
Kostel-Hughes F, Young T, Wehr J (2005) Effects of leaf litter depth on the emergence and seedling growth of deciduous forest tree species in relation to seed size. J Torrey Bot Soc 132:50–61. https://doi.org/10.3159/1095-5674(2005)132[50:EOLLDO]2.0.CO;2
Lei TT, Lechowicz MJ (1997) The photosynthetic response of eight species of Acer to simulated light regimes from the centre and edges of gaps. Funct Ecol 11:16–23. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2435.1997.00048.x
Levine J, Adler P, Yelenik S (2004) A meta-analysis of biotic resistance to exotic plant invasions. Ecol Lett 7:975–989. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00657.x
Liao C, Peng R, Luo Y et al (2008) Altered ecosystem carbon and nitrogen cycles by plant invasion: a meta-analysis. New Phytol 177:706–714. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2007.02290.x
Macdonald SE, Fenniak TE (2007) Understory plant communities of boreal mixedwood forests in western Canada: natural patterns and response to variable-retention harvesting. For Ecol Manag 242:34–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2007.01.029
Machado J-L, Reich PB (1999) Evaluation of several measures of canopy openness as predictors of photosynthetic photon flux density in deeply shaded conifer-dominated forest understory. Can J For Res 29:1438–1444. https://doi.org/10.1139/x99-102
Marosz A (2009) Effect of fulvic and humic organic acids and calcium on growth and chlorophyll content of tree species grown under salt stress. Dendrobiology 62:47–53
Matson E (2011) Acer tataricum. http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Invasives/fact/AmurMaple.html. Accessed 15 Sep 2016
McLachlan SM, Bazely DR (2001) Recovery patterns of understory herbs and their use as indicators of deciduous forest regeneration. Conserv Biol 15:98–110
Messier C, Parent S, Bergeron Y (1998) Effects of overstory and understory vegetation on the understory light environment in mixed boreal forests. J Veg Sci 9:511–520. https://doi.org/10.2307/3237266
Paquette A, Fontaine B, Berninger F et al (2012) Norway maple displays greater seasonal growth and phenotypic plasticity to light than native sugar maple. Tree Physiol 32:1339–1347. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tps092
Pearcy RW (1983) The light environment and growth of C3 and C4 tree species in the understory of a Hawaiian forest. Oecologia 58:19–25. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00384537
Reich PB, Wright IJ, Cavender-Bares J et al (2003) The evolution of plant functional variation: traits, spectra, and strategies. Int J Plant Sci 164:S143–S164. https://doi.org/10.1086/374368
Reinhart KO, Gurnee J, Tirado R, Callaway RM (2006) Invasion through quantitative effects: intense shade drives native decline and invasive success. Ecol Appl 16:1821–1831. https://doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(2006)016[1821:ITQEIS]2.0.CO;2
Rejmanek M, Richardson DM (1996) What attributes make some plant species more invasive? Ecology 77:1655–1661. https://doi.org/10.2307/2265768
Rejmánek M, Richardson DM, Pysek P (2013) Trees and shrubs as invasive alien species—2013 update of the global database. Divers Distrib 19:1093–1094. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12075
Roth AM, Whitfeld TJS, Lodge AG et al (2015) Invasive earthworms interact with abiotic conditions to influence the invasion of common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica). Oecologia 178:219–230. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-3175-4
Sakai AK, Allendorf FW, Holt JS et al (2001) The population biology of invasive species. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 32:305–332
Schmidt JP, Drake JM (2011) Why are some plant genera more invasive than others? PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0018654
Schuster MJ, Dukes JS (2014) Non-additive effects of invasive tree litter shift seasonal N release: a potential invasion feedback. Oikos 123:1101–1111. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.01078
Simberloff D (2009) The role of propagule pressure in biological invasions. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 40:81–102. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.110308.120304
USDA (2017) The PLANTS database (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA. Accessed 30 June 2017
Vila M, Espinar JL, Hejda M et al (2011) Ecological impacts of invasive alien plants: a meta-analysis of their effects on species, communities and ecosystems RID F-7454-2011 RID A-2783-2012 RID B-1957-2012. Ecol Lett 14:702–708. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01628.x
Zhu J, Cheng H-M, Zhu Y-P et al (2015) Geographic variations in leaf shape of Acer ginnala (Aceraceae). Plant Syst Evol 301:1017–1028. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-014-1132-7
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schuster, M.J., Reich, P.B. Amur maple (Acer ginnala): an emerging invasive plant in North America. Biol Invasions 20, 2997–3007 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-018-1754-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-018-1754-8