Comparing Allelopathic Effects of Root and Leaf Extracts of Invasive Alliaria petiolata, Lonicera maackii and Ranunculus ficaria on Germination of Three Native Woodland Plants

TLDR: This study is the first to directly compare the effects of these invasive species on a suite of native, ecologically-relevant target species and confirms the strong direct allelopathic effects of A. petiolata, though the strength of the effect varies withtarget species and with type of tissue used to make extracts.

Abstract: Invasive plant species can exhibit allelopathic effects on native plant species. The strength of this allelopathic effect can vary with invasive species, with target species and with type of plant tissue extract. The purpose of this study was to determine the direct effects of extracts from roots or leaves of three Midwestern US invasive plants (Alliaria petiolata, Lonicera maackii and Ranunculus ficaria) on the germination success of three native target species (Anemone virginiana, Blephilia hirsuta and Elymus hystrix) in a fully factorial experiment. Leaf extract treatments overall showed more germination inhibition compared to root extract treatments. As concentration increased, effects of extracts increased. Extracts of leaves of A. petiolata had the greatest inhibition of germination across all other treatments. Effects of root and leaf extracts of each invasive species varied with each target species. While E. hystrix showed little response to extracts of roots or leaves of L. maackii and R. ficaria, B. hirsuta and A. virginiana germination were reduced by leaf extracts of these two invasive species. This study confirms the strong direct allelopathic effects of A. petiolata, though the strength of the effect varies with target species and with type of tissue used to make extracts. This study is the first to directly compare the effects of these invasive species on a suite of native, ecologically-relevant target species. Date of Publication 29 July 2013 OHIO J SCI 112(2): 37-43 1address correspondence to kendra a. cipollini, wilmington college, 1870 Quaker way, wilmington, Oh 45177. email: kal143@alumni.psu.edu INTRODUCTION invasive species are a threat to biodiversity globally (McGeoch and others 2010) and have negative impacts on native species including reduced germination, growth, survival, and reproduction (e.g., Gould and Gorchov 2000; Miller and Gorchov 2004; dorning and cipollini 2006; cipollini and others 2008a; cipollini and others 2009). understanding the mechanism by which invasive species negatively impact native species is an active area of invasive species research (levine and others 2003). One important interaction between plants is allelopathy, which is suppression of one plant by substances produced by another plant. This mechanism may represent a novel weapon (callaway and ridenour 2004) and has been implicated in invasive species success (e.g., callaway and aschehoug 2000). allelochemicals from invasive plants may affect other plants directly (cipollini and others 2008b) or indirectly, such as through changing soil ecology and disrupting mutualisms (cipollini and others 2012a). although field studies are necessary to see if allelopathic effects extend into complex field environments (inderjit and nielsen 2003), simple laboratory germination assays can be used as a first step to examine potential allelopathic effects of a plant species (Blum 1999; inderjit and callaway 2003). laboratory studies also have the benefit of allowing the evaluation of direct impacts only (cipollini and others 2012b). laboratory bioassays further provide a simple tool to examine comparative allelopathic effects between several species (pisula and Meiners 2010). This study examined three common invasive species that are negatively impacting forests in Ohio and beyond. The first species, Alliaria petiolata (M. Bieb) cavara & Grand [garlic mustard, Brassicaceae] is found in much of the uS and canada. it exhibits both direct (prati and Bossdorf 2004; cipollini and others 2012b) and indirect (roberts and anderson 2001; Stinson and others 2006; callaway and others 2008) allelopathic effects on other plant species. Several possible allelochemicals have been described in Alliaria petiolata (Vaughn and Berhow 1999; cipollini and Gruner 2007) but activity of putative compounds in the field needs to be better understood (Barto and cipollini 2009). probable allelopathy has been confirmed in the field (cipollini and others 2008a). The second invasive species, Lonicera maackii (rupr.) Maxim [amur honeysuckle, caprifoliaceae], is found throughout the eastern half of the uS and canada. leaf extracts of L. maackii demonstrated direct allelopathic effects on seed germination of Arabidopsis thaliana and Impatiens capensis (dorning and cipollini 2006) and growth and reproduction of A. thaliana (cipollini and others 2008b). two flavones, apigenin and luteolin, were identified in L. maackii as possible allelochemicals 38 VOl. 111 allelOpathY Of inVaSiVe plantS (cipollini and others 2008c). allelopathy of L. maackii on A. thaliana has been demonstrated in field soils using leaf extracts and conditioned soils, i.e., soils in which the invasive species had previously grown (cipollini and others 2008b; cipollini and dorning 2008). The third invasive species, Ranunculus ficaria l. [lesser celandine, ranunculaceae], is an emerging invasive species (axtell and others 2010), with little published research from its invasive range in the northeastern and pacific northwest regions of the uS. leaf extracts of R. ficaria negatively affected germination and growth of some model species in the laboratory (cipollini and others 2102b), and probable allelopathic effects in the field have been revealed (cipollini and Schradin 2011). while each species of interest has demonstrated allelopathic effects, there is little information on comparative allelopathic effects of these species. Meiners and others (2012) call for more studies investigating the variation in strength of allelopathic interactions in order to understand these interactions in an ecological context. further, understanding the difference in allelopathic effects may help in prioritizing and refining conservation activities related to prevention and mitigation of invasive species effects. pisula and Meiners (2010) compared allelopathic effects of leaf extracts of 10 invasive species, finding A. petiolata as one of the top strongest germination inhibitors. cipollini and others (2012b) found similar comparatively strong effects of A. petiolata, though effects varied with target species. Other studies have also found that effects of invasive species extracts can vary with target species (Mcewan and others 2010; Shang and others 2011). previous comparative studies have used agricultural or model laboratory organisms (pisula and Meiners 2010; cipollini and others 2012b) and there is a need for testing allelopathy with more ecologically relevant species. There may also be little allelopathic effect between plants within the same plant family; for example, there was no negative impact of A. petiolata on other members of the Brassicaceae (cipollini and others 2008b; cipollini and others 2012b). additionally, the type of plant tissue used to make extracts may also have differential impacts (dorning and cipollini 2006; cipollini and dorning 2008; Moosavi and others 2011). The direct effect of root extracts has not been examined for R. ficaria or for A. petiolata, particularly in a comparative context. This study aimed to investigate the effect of root and leaf extracts from three co-occurring invasive species on the germination of three native target species. we hypothesized that leaf extracts would have greater impacts than root extracts due to results from preliminary studies, and that inhibitory effects would increase with extract concentration. we hypothesized that A. petiolata would have the strongest impacts and that effects of invasive species would vary with target species. in particular, we hypothesized that extracts of R. ficaria would have negligible effects on a target species in its same plant family and have greater impacts on target species found in other plant families. MATERIALS AND METHODS roots and leaves/shoots of A. petiolata, L. maackii and R. ficaria were collected in May 2010 in woodlots near wilmington, Oh. Three hundred grams of each tissue, leaf or root, were placed in 1 l of distilled water and allowed to soak at room temperature for 48 h to make a concentration of 0.3 g fresh tissue/ml distilled water. Solutions were then vacuum-filtered and the filtrate was stored frozen until use. The three native target species, Blephilia hirsuta (pursh) Benth. [hairy pagoda plant, lamiaceae], Anemone virginiana l. [tall thimbleweed, ranunculaceae] and Elymus hystrix l. [bottlebrush grass, poaceae], were chosen based on their availability, their ability to easily germinate and their native habitat overlap with all of the invasive species of interest. Seeds were obtained from prairie Moon nursery (winona, Mn). two concentrations of root and leaf extract were used for the experiment, 0.3 and 0.15 g fresh tissue/ml distilled water; concentrations are similar to those used in previous experiments and thought be within field levels (dorning and cipollini 2006; cipollini and others 2008b; cipollini and others 2012b). The low concentration was created by diluting the high concentration by half with distilled water. Seeds (10 for E. hystrix and 25 for B. hirsuta and A. virginiana) were placed on paper towels, which were then saturated with 20 ml of designated extract or a control solution of distilled water, with four replicates for each treatment. There were a total of 156 experimental units (three invasive extract species x three native target species x two extract concentrations x two extract tissue types x four replicates + 12 controls). The seeds on the saturated paper towels were placed in plastic bags, which were haphazardly placed under lights with 12 h of fullspectrum light. distilled water was added as needed throughout the experiment to keep seeds moist. The number of seeds that had germinated was recorded after eight weeks. percent germination (out of average percent germination of control of each species) was analyzed using a four-way analysis of Variance (anOVa) with OhiO JOurnal Of Science 39 k.a. cipOllini and w.n. flint the fixed factors of extract species, extract type (roo