Effect of Invasive Species on Plant-Soil Fungal Diversity

 By: Maria Hernandez

The experimental setup with representations of the different plant species used. Native plant species are represented by grass-shaped symbols. Invasive plant species can be identified by the orange triangles. Each setup consisted of different number of native species (1, 2, 4 or 8) and one type of invasive species. Figure taken from Shen et al. 2021.

Climate change has the potential of increasing both the spread and establishment of invasive plant species across the world. Plant invasions can affect an ecosystem's stability as well as alter the community structure between soil and native plants (McCann 2000; Van der Putten et al., 2007). While previous studies showed that communities with more plant and soil fungal diversity were more resistant to plant invasions (Elton 1958), a study conducted by Shen and colleagues suggests a more positive resistance relationship between plant-soil microbial diversity. The study shows that when there are no plant invasions, plant diversity has an indirect effect on soil fungal diversity by increasing soil total carbon (TC). However, when plant invasions were detected, plant diversity had a more direct effect. Although the study shows the relationship between plant-soil fungal diversity both with and without plant invasions, further research is still needed to understand the ecological mechanisms that are behind both diversity-diversity and diversity-stability relationships. The study, however, adds on to the previous knowledge about both the aboveground and belowground diversity relationships. By showing the effect of invasive plant species on plant-soil microbial diversity, the study can aid in future scientific research on invasive plants and climate change.

Article:

Shen C., Wang J., He J.Z., Yu F.H., and Ge Y. (2021). Plant Diversity Enhances Soil Fungal Diversity and Microbial Resistance to Plant Invasion. Applied and Environmental Microbiology.