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Changing edaphic conditions and exploitation of an expanded phenological niche allows for increased exotic (introduced) plant species dominance

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Abstract

Aims

Global change agents are creating novel climatic and edaphic conditions that may favor introduced species. We attempted to identify mechanisms and impacts of Bromus tectorum invasion in the Colorado Front Range mixed-grass prairie under changing conditions.

Methods

We conducted an in-situ experiment with three removal treatments (removal of B. tectorum, removal of Pascopyrum smithii, and no removal) and two nitrogen treatments (ambient and low N), and measured plant community response. We used isotopic analysis of δ18O and δD in plants and soils to identify seasonal source water of B. tectorum and P. smithii.

Results

We found that dominance of B. tectorum was greatest under high resource conditions (ambient N, wet winter) now common due to increased N deposition and climate change. However, its removal had little impact on native plant abundance or composition. Isotopic results show B. tectorum and P. smithii partitioning water use between shallow versus deeper soil layers during the dry summer season.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that changing environmental conditions favor the introduced grass Bromus tectorum over native species, but probably not due to altered competitive relationships. Instead, B. tectorum appears to be opportunistically responding to expansion of a phenological niche and increased nutrient availability.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by a grant from the NSF (DEB 1120390) to the University of Colorado. We thank Robin Reibold, Peter Omasta, Shivani Ehrenfeucht, Jeremy Arkin, Katherine Hurtado, Summer Sugg, Michael Mann, Oren Rabinowitz, Kimberly O’Keefe and Rachel Lease for help with field sampling and lab analysis. We also thank L. and S. Sanabria for permission to use their property for this research effort.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science and Policy, St Edward’s University, 3001 South Congress, Austin, TX, 78704-6489, USA

    Amy L. Concilio

  2. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA

    Timothy R. Seastedt

  3. Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA

    Jesse B. Nippert

Authors
  1. Amy L. Concilio
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  2. Timothy R. Seastedt
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  3. Jesse B. Nippert
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amy L. Concilio.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Hans Lambers.

Electronic supplementary material

Online Resource 1

Total inorganic N collected by resin bags seasonally in ambient and low N plots (DOCX 331 kb).

Online Resource 2

Results from 2-way PerMANOVAs of raw and 4th root transformed species composition data (full dataset) (DOCX 75 kb).

Online Resource 3

Results from 2-way PerMANOVAs of raw and 4th root transformed species composition data (all species aside from focal species B. tectorum and P. smithii) (DOCX 76 kb).

Online Resource 4

Introduced species dominance in June 2013 compared to June 2014 by removal and nitrogen treatments (DOCX 556 kb).

Online Resource 5

Results from an isotopic mixing model showing the estimated proportion of water used by B. tectorum and P. smithii from different parts of the soil profile in spring and summer of 2014 (DOCX 422 kb).

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Concilio, A.L., Seastedt, T.R. & Nippert, J.B. Changing edaphic conditions and exploitation of an expanded phenological niche allows for increased exotic (introduced) plant species dominance. Plant Soil 415, 299–315 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-016-3167-8

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