An invasive plant provides refuge to native plant species in an intensely grazed ecosystem

Biological Invasions volume 20, pages2745–2751(2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Invasion by exotic plant species and herbivory can individually alter native plant species diversity, but their interactive effects in structuring native plant communities remain little studied. Many exotic plant species escape from their co-evolved specialized herbivores in their native range (in accordance with the enemy release hypothesis). When these invasive plants are relatively unpalatable, they may act as nurse plants by reducing herbivore damage on co-occurring native plants, thereby structuring native plant communities. However, the potential for unpalatable invasive plants to structure native plant communities has been little investigated. Here, we tested whether presence of an unpalatable exotic invader Opuntia ficus-indica was associated with the structure of native plant communities in an ecosystem with a long history of grazing by ungulate herbivores. Along 17 transects (each 1000 m long), we conducted a native vegetation survey in paired invaded and uninvaded plots. Plots that harboured O. ficus-indica had higher native plant species richness and Shannon–Wiener diversity H′ than uninvaded plots. However, mean species evenness J was similar between invaded and uninvaded plots. There was no significant correlation between native plant diversity and percentage plot cover by O. ficus-indica. Presence of O. ficus-indica was associated with a compositional change in native community assemblages between paired invaded and uninvaded plots. Although these results are only correlative, they suggest that unpalatable exotic plants may play an important ecological role as refugia for maintenance of native plant diversity in intensely grazed ecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mr. Simon Mathenge for help with plant identification during the survey. Permission to conduct the research was granted by National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation of Kenya (NACOSTI) (Permit Number NCST/RCD/12B/013/24) and Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS). We also thank Rony Adams Onyango and KWS rangers attached to Nairobi National Park for logistical support and providing protection against animals in the park. A.M.O. Oduor received financial support from an International Young Scientist Fellowship of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 2012Y1ZA0011), a Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) (No. 2016PE016) and a research grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 312111182). Comments from the editor, two anonymous reviewers, and Dr. Wayne Dawson improved an earlier draft of this manuscript.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied and Technical Biology, The Technical University of Kenya, P.O Box 52428-00200, Nairobi, Kenya

    Ayub M. O. Oduor

  2. International Ecosystem Management Partnership-United Nations Environment Program (UNEP-IEMP), 11A Datun Road, Beijing, 100101, China

    Ayub M. O. Oduor, Huaping Long, A. Belarmain Fandohan, Jian Liu & Xiubo Yu

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Huaping Long

  4. Forestry Agroforestry and Biogeography Unit, National University of Agriculture, BP 43, Kétou, Republic of Benin

    A. Belarmain Fandohan

  5. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China

    Xiubo Yu

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  1. Ayub M. O. Oduor
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  2. Huaping Long
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Correspondence to Ayub M. O. Oduor.

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Oduor, A.M.O., Long, H., Fandohan, A.B. et al. An invasive plant provides refuge to native plant species in an intensely grazed ecosystem. Biol Invasions 20, 2745–2751 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-018-1757-5

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Keywords

  • Facilitation
  • Native–exotic plant interactions
  • Nurse plants
  • Native species diversity
  • Unpalatable exotic plants
  • Nairobi National Park