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Letter | Published: 20 November 2013
Self-reinforcing impacts of plant invasions change over time
Stephanie G. Yelenik1 n2
& Carla M. D'Antonio1
Nature volume 503, pages 517–520 (28 November 2013) | Download Citation
Returning native species to habitats degraded by biological invasions is a critical conservation goal1. A leading hypothesis poses that exotic plant dominance is self-reinforced by impacts on ecosystem processes, leading to persistent stable states2,3,4,5,6. Invaders have been documented to modify fire regimes, alter soil nutrients or shift microbial communities in ways that feed back to benefit themselves over competitors2,5,6,7. However, few studies have followed invasions through time to ask whether ecosystem impacts and feedbacks persist8,9. Here we return to woodland sites in Hawai′i Volcanoes National Park that were invaded by exotic C4 grasses in the 1960s, the ecosystem impacts of which were studied intensively in the 1990s10,11,12. We show that positive feedbacks between exotic grasses and soil nitrogen cycling have broken down, but rather than facilitating native vegetation, the weakening feedbacks facilitate new exotic species. Data from the 1990s showed that exotic grasses increased nitrogen-mineralization rates by two- to fourfold, but were nitrogen-limited10,12,13. Thus, the impacts of the invader created a positive feedback early in the invasion. We now show that annual net soil nitrogen mineralization has since dropped to pre-invasion levels. In addition, a seedling outplanting experiment that varied soil nitrogen and grass competition demonstrates that the changing impacts of grasses do not favour native species re-establishment. Instead, decreased nitrogen availability most benefits another aggressive invader, the nitrogen-fixing tree Morella faya. Long-term studies of invasions may reveal that ecosystem impacts and feedbacks shift over time, but that this may not benefit native species recovery.
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We thank M. Mack for previous data. We thank S. McDaniel and S. Doyle for native seed and the National Park Service for field site access and laboratory and greenhouse facilities. N. DiManno, V. Vincent, T. Kalei, T. D'Antonio-Dudley, K. Roehr, W. Buckley, M. Wasser and C. French helped with field work and N. DiManno, V. Vincent and S. Ma helped with laboratory work. We are appreciative of early manuscript comments from E. Mordecai and statistical advice from K. Brinck. This research was funded by National Science Foundation grant DEB 1029168.
Stephanie G. Yelenik
Present address: US Geological Survey, Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center, Hawai′i Volcanoes National Park, Hawai′i 96718, USA.
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
& Carla M. D'Antonio
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S.G.Y. and C.M.D. conceived and designed the study, managed the project, performed laboratory and field work and edited the manuscript. S.G.Y. analysed the data, developed the figures and drafted the initial manuscript.
Correspondence to Stephanie G. Yelenik.
Extended data
Extended data figures
Monthly rainfall over the study periods, and the 25-year average monthly rainfall.
Relationship between net N mineralization and rainfall over the study periods.
Potential net N mineralization from laboratory assays.
RGRs for seedlings in the outplanting experiment.
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Editorial Summary
New invaders for old
Invasive plants can radically change ecosystem function to the detriment of species originally in place. But what happens if the invasive species is eradicated — is the ecosystem changed permanently, or if the ousted plants are replaced can they carry on as before? For this study Stephanie Yelenik and Carla D'Antonio returned to grass-invaded field sites in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park to study invader impacts replicated more than two decades on. The invasive grass had altered nitrogen-mineralization levels but decades later the ecosystem had returned to pre-invasion levels. However, the new conditions did not favour native re-establishment; rather, they benefited a new invasive, the nitrogen-fixing tree Morella faya.
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