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Influence of precipitation dynamics on plant invasions: response of alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides) and co-occurring native species to varying water availability across plant communities

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Abstract

Over the last few decades, rainfall has become more variable, with a worldwide increase in the frequency of extreme precipitation events. While increases in rainfall variability are expected to significantly affect plant species, the effects of precipitation dynamics on plant invasions remains understudied. We examined the growth response of Alternanthera philoxeroides to varying water availability at the community level when grown in a monoculture and mixed community with four commonly co-occurring native species. The native species were also grown together as a control to compare to the invasive species communities. Seven water treatments were applied to each community, including a ‘normal’ treatment (based on the average rainfall for the area), drought (water was one third of the normal treatment), flood (water was double the normal treatment), and other simulated extreme events (where water availability was more variable than the normal treatment). All plants were measured for growth (e.g., biomass and stolon length) and competitive traits (i.e., relative competitive dominance and relative interaction indices). Most growth traits in A. philoxeroides were enhanced with increased and/or more variable water availability in both the monoculture and mixed community. In contrast, differences in growth traits in the native plants were mostly non-significant across treatments in each plant community. Compared to the normal treatment, A. philoxeroides had higher relative competitive dominance (RDI) and interaction (RII) indices in response to flooding. Conversely, RII in the native species was not significantly different among treatments. Overall, our results suggest that A. philoxeroides is more responsive to flooding compared to the natives. Our study provides useful insights into growth response and competitiveness of A. philoxeroides to precipitation variability across different plant communities.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. Justin SH Wan for advice on this manuscript. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32071521), Jiangsu Planned Projects for Postdoctoral Research Funds (2021K384C), and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD). S. Rutherford is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32001087) and Jiangsu University Research Foundation (20JDG055). We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers whose comments enabled us to improve the manuscript.

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  1. Institute of Environmental Health and Ecological Security, School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China

    Guangqian Ren, Bin Yang, Jingjing Wang, Miaomiao Cui, Zhicong Dai, Michael Opoku Adomako, Susan Rutherford & Daolin Du

  2. School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China

    Guangqian Ren, Zhicong Dai & Daolin Du

  3. School of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, University of Sydney, J12/1 Cleveland St, Darlington, NSW, 2008, Australia

    Yizhou Du

  4. Institute of Wetland Ecology and Clone Ecology, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Evolutionary Ecology and ConservationSchool of Life Science, Taizhou University, Taizhou, 318000, China

    Michael Opoku Adomako

  5. Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Technology and Material of Water Treatment, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, People’s Republic of China

    Daolin Du

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  1. Guangqian Ren
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Ren, G., Du, Y., Yang, B. et al. Influence of precipitation dynamics on plant invasions: response of alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides) and co-occurring native species to varying water availability across plant communities. Biol Invasions 25, 519–532 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-022-02931-2

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