Soil nutrient limitation and natural enemies promote the establishment
of alien species in native community
Abstract
The invasion of alien plant species poses a threat to native community’s
composition and diversity. However, the invasiveness of alien plants and
invisibility of native communities should be depended on the
interactions between biotic and abiotic factors, such as natural enemies
and nutrient availability. In a study, we simulated the invasion of nine
invasive plants into native plant communities with two levels of
nutrient availability and natural enemies suppression. We explored how
the biotic and abiotic factors affect the response of alien target
species and the resistance of native communities to invasion. The
results showed that enemy release (i.e., presence of enemy) increased
biomass proportion of alien plants and decreased that of native
community under without nutrient addition. Furthermore, we also found
that the negative effect of enemy suppression on the evenness of native
community and the root-to-shoot ratio of alien target species was
greatest under nutrient addition. Therefore, nutrient deficiency and
natural enemies might promote the invasive success of alien species in
native community, whereas nutrient addition and enemy suppression can
better enhance the resistance of native plant communities to invasion.