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Solidago canadensis invasion destabilizes the understory plant community and soil properties of coastal shelterbelt forests of subtropical China

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Abstract

Aims

Canadian goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) invasion is degrading the coastal shelterbelt forests of subtropical China, but few studies have quantified the role of this invader in structuring understory plant diversity and soil properties.

Methods

Understory species richness, Margalef index, Pielow index, community stability index, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), C:N ratio, pH, bulk porosity (BP), and aeration porosity (AP) were assessed by deriving three categories of goldenrod invasion in coastal shelterbelt forests of Zhejiang, China, that is, uninvaded, moderately invaded and severely invaded plant communities according to goldenrod coverage.

Results

Goldenrod invasion was generally associated with significantly decreased understory plant richness and community stability, but increased species evenness. Specifically, moderate invasion was associated with substantially fewer species compared to uninvaded communities, it was also associated with increased SOC, C:N ratio, CEC, and AP but decreased TN. However, severe invasion was only associated with slight additional declines in species richness compared to moderate invasion, but further reduced soil TN, SOC, and CEC. Soil TN and TP were both strongly and positively associated with community stability and understory plant species richness. However, severe invasion decoupled the correlational relationshipes between soil TN and understory community stability.

Conclusions

Moderate invasion of goldenrod caused reduced plant taxonomic diversity and altered soil nutrients in coastal shelterbelt forests of subtropical China. Severe invasion aggravated the impacts a step further, and decoupled soil TN and understory community stability. These results illuminate the impacts of goldenrod invasion on community structure and soil properties in coastal shelterbelt forests and provide evidence that invasive plants can significantly alter the ecological processes in introduced communities.

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Data availability

Data are available on request from the authors.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Shenhua Gu, Xuefeng Lin, and Quanxin Zhang for their assistance in the fieldwork. The research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Project (2019YFE0118900), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32101506), the cooperative program in forest science between Zhejiang Province and the Chinese Academy of Forestry (16204002), and Jiyang College of Zhejiang A&F University under Grant No. RQ1911F09.

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  1. Hongtao Xie

    Present address: Jiyang College, Zhejiang A&F University, Zhuji, 311800, China

  2. Hongtao Xie and Lauren S. Pile Knapp contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, University of Missouri-Columbia, 202 ABNR Building, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Lauren S. Pile Knapp

  2. East China Coastal Forest Ecosystem Long-Term Research Station, Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Hangzhou, 311400, China

    Mukui Yu

  3. Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, 29634, USA

    G. Geoff Wang

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Contributions

H.X. carried out the fieldwork and laboratory analysis, prepared figures, and wrote the manuscript. L.P.K and G.G.W revised the manuscript; M.Y. contributed substantially to the study design and supervised the field and laboratory personnel.

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Correspondence to Hongtao Xie or Mukui Yu.

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Xie, H., Knapp, L.S.P., Yu, M. et al. Solidago canadensis invasion destabilizes the understory plant community and soil properties of coastal shelterbelt forests of subtropical China. Plant Soil 484, 65–77 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05739-0

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