Journal ArticleDOI
Invasive species accelerate decomposition and litter nitrogen loss in a mixed deciduous forest
TLDR
The results suggest that the invasion of exotic species into hardwood forests alters decomposition and nutrient cycling, irrespective of species-specific litter quality differences between natives and ex- otics.Abstract:
Invasive species can change decomposition rates within an ecosystem by changing the quality of the litter entering a system. It is not known, however, whether or not invasions can also change rates of decomposition irrespective of litter quality. We conducted an experiment to explore the differences in decomposition between leaf litter of native and exotic invasive woody plants and between invaded and uninvaded mesic hard- wood forests on Long Island, New York, USA. We evaluated the mass and nitrogen loss rates from leaf litter of four pairs of native and exotic woody species. Litter from the exotic species decomposed and released nitrogen significantly faster than litter from the native species. The largest differences in decomposition and nitrogen loss occurred between the invaded and uninvaded sites rather than between native and exotic species, with litter of all species types decomposing substantially faster in invaded sites. These results suggest that the invasion of exotic species into hardwood forests alters decomposition and nutrient cycling, irrespective of species-specific litter quality differences between natives and ex- otics.read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
Ecosystem Consequences of Biological Invasions
TL;DR: In this article, a variety of interacting, mutually reinforcing mechanistic pathways, including species' resource acquisition traits; population densities; ability to engineer changes to physical environmental conditions; effects on disturbance, especially fire; regimes; the ability to structure habitat for other species; and their impact on food webs, are discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Altered ecosystem carbon and nitrogen cycles by plant invasion: a meta-analysis.
Chengzhang Liao,Chengzhang Liao,Ronghao Peng,Yiqi Luo,Yiqi Luo,Xuhui Zhou,Xiaowen Wu,Changming Fang,Jiakuan Chen,Bo Li +9 more
TL;DR: Increases in plant production and soil N availability indicate that there was positive feedback between plant invasion and C and N cycles in invaded ecosystems, and suggest that plant invasion profoundly influences ecosystem processes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Challenges to incorporating spatially and temporally explicit phenomena (hotspots and hot moments) in denitrification models
Peter M. Groffman,Klaus Butterbach-Bahl,Robinson W. Fulweiler,Arthur J. Gold,Jennifer L. Morse,Emilie K. Stander,Christina L. Tague,Christina Tonitto,Philippe Vidon +8 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the prospects for incorporating hotspot and hot moment phenomena into denitrification models in terrestrial soils, the interface between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and in aquatic ecosystems.
Journal ArticleDOI
Impacts of alien plant invasions on species richness in Mediterranean-type ecosystems: a meta-analysis
TL;DR: A meta-analysis of studies in Mediterranean-type ecosystems to examine whether invasion of alien plant species indeed causes a reduction in the number of native plant species at different spatial and temporal scales confirms a significant decline in native species richness attributable to alien invasions.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microbial ecology of biological invasions.
TL;DR: It is proposed that understanding, predicting and counteracting consequences of enhanced global homogenization of natural communities through introducing exotic plants, animals and microbes will require future studies on how pathogenic, symbiotic and decomposer soil microbes interact, how they are influenced by higher trophic level organisms and how their combined effects are influencing the composition and functioning of ecosystems.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Butterflies and plants: a study in coevolution
Paul R. Ehrlich,Peter H. Raven +1 more
TL;DR: The relationship between butterflies and their food plants is investigated, the examination of patterns of interaction between two major groups of organisms with a close and evident ecological relationship, such as plants and herbivores.
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Energy Storage and the Balance of Producers and Decomposers in Ecological Systems
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Nitrogen and Lignin Control of Hardwood Leaf Litter Decomposition Dynamics
TL;DR: The effects of initial nitrogen and lignin contents of six species of hardwood leaves on their decomposition dynamics were studied at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest by inverse linear relationships between the percentage of original mass remaining and the nitrogen concentration in the residual material.
Journal ArticleDOI
Partitioning selection and complementarity in biodiversity experiments
Michel Loreau,Andy Hector +1 more
TL;DR: The selection effect is zero on average and varies from negative to positive in different localities, depending on whether species with lower- or higher-than-average biomass dominate communities, while the complementarity effect is positive overall, supporting the hypothesis that plant diversity influences primary production in European grasslands through niche differentiation or facilitation.