title: The impact of an invasive plant changes over time.
abstract: Many exotic plant invaders pose a serious threat to native communities, but little is known about the dynamics of their impacts over time. In this study, we explored the impact of an invasive plant Heracleum mantegazzianum (giant hogweed) at 24 grassland sites invaded for different periods of time (from 11 to 48 years). Native species' richness and productivity were initially reduced by hogweed invasion but tended to recover after ~30 years of hogweed residence at the sites. Hogweed cover declined over the whole period assessed. A complementary common garden experiment suggested that the dynamics observed in the field were due to a negative plant-soil feedback; hogweed survival and biomass, and its competitive ability were lower when growing in soil inocula collected from earlier-invaded grasslands. Our results provide evidence that the initial dominance of an invasive plant species and its negative impact can later be reversed by stabilising processes.
authors: Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, CZ-252 43, Průhonice, Czech Republic.
authors: Petr
authors: P
authors: Dostál
authors: Jana
authors: J
authors: Müllerová
authors: Petr
authors: P
authors: Pyšek
authors: Jan
authors: J
authors: Pergl
authors: Tereza
authors: T
authors: Klinerová
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017753:Ecosystem; D030002:Heracleum / Q000502:physiology*; D058865:Introduced Species; D006109:Poaceae / Q000502:physiology; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D013995:Time
keywords: Central Europe; coexistence; diversity; giant hogweed; native plant communities; plant invasions; recovery; soil pathogens; stabilising mechanisms