Native and Invasive Woody Species Differentially Respond to Forest Edges and Forest Successional Age
1
Agronomy Department, University of Florida, 1676 McCarty Drive, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
2
Department of Biology, Indiana University, 1001 East Third Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Forests 2018, 9(7), 381; https://doi.org/10.3390/f9070381
Received: 15 May 2018 / Revised: 20 June 2018 / Accepted: 21 June 2018 / Published: 26 June 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecology and Management of Invasive Species in Forest Ecosystems)
Forest fragmentation can promote non-native plant invasions by increasing invasive plant seed dispersal and resource availability along edges. These effects can vary based on forest age and may be influenced by differences in traits of native and invasive plant species. To determine how native versus invasive plant species respond to forest edges and forest successional age, we experimentally evaluated germination, survival, and growth of three native and three invasive woody plant species in eastern USA forests. Across all species, increasing distance from the edge resulted in more germination and less seedling growth, but had no effect on seedling survival. Generally, seedling growth was greater in younger forests and invasive species outperformed native species; however, there were significant species-specific differences in performance. For example, among native species, spicebush had poor growth performance but high survival, while redbud had low germination but high growth performance and survival. By contrast, the invasive privet and autumn olive produced more biomass with high relative growth rates, and autumn olive had exceptionally high germination but the lowest survival. Overall, our results suggest that while there are some general characteristics of invasive species, species-specific traits may better inform management strategies and improve predictions about biological invasions along forest edges.
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Keywords:
edge effects; seedling growth; survival; invasion; Elaeagnus; Lonicera; Ligustrum; Cornus; Cercis; Lindera
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MDPI and ACS Style
Dillon, W.W.; Lieurance, D.; Hiatt, D.T.; Clay, K.; Flory, S.L. Native and Invasive Woody Species Differentially Respond to Forest Edges and Forest Successional Age. Forests 2018, 9, 381. https://doi.org/10.3390/f9070381
AMA Style
Dillon WW, Lieurance D, Hiatt DT, Clay K, Flory SL. Native and Invasive Woody Species Differentially Respond to Forest Edges and Forest Successional Age. Forests. 2018; 9(7):381. https://doi.org/10.3390/f9070381
Chicago/Turabian StyleDillon, Whalen W., Deah Lieurance, Drew T. Hiatt, Keith Clay, and S. L. Flory 2018. "Native and Invasive Woody Species Differentially Respond to Forest Edges and Forest Successional Age" Forests 9, no. 7: 381. https://doi.org/10.3390/f9070381
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