title: The Effect of Artificial Mowing on the Competition ofPhragmites australisandSpartina alterniflorain the Yangtze Estuary.
abstract: Spartina alternifloraLoisel. is one of the most invasive species in the world. However, little is known about the role of artificial mowing in its invasiveness and competiveness. In this work, we studied the effect of mowing on its interspecific interactions with native speciesPhragmites australis(Cav.) Trin ex Steud of the Yangtze Estuary, China. We calculated their relative neighbor effect (RNE) index, effect of relative crowding (Dr) index, and interaction strength (I) index. The results showed that the RNE ofPhragmites australisandSpartina alterniflorawas 0.354 and 0.619, respectively, and they have competitive interactions. The mowing treatments can significantly influence the RNE ofPhragmites australisandSpartina alternifloraon each other. Concretely, the RNE ofSpartina alterniflorain the removal treatments was significantly higher than the value in the controls. But the RNE ofPhragmites australisin the removal treatments was significantly lower than the value in the controls. Meanwhile,Drof the two species on the targets was higher in the removal treatments than that in the controls, and the opposite was forI. We concluded that artificial mowing could promote the invasion ofSpartina alternifloraby increasing its competitive performance compared with native species.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Forestry Policy and Information, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2124-8887
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science, Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China; State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, East China Normal University, 500 N. Dongchuan Rd, Shanghai 200241, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Urbanization and Ecological Restoration, Shanghai, China; National Field Observation and Research Station in the Tiantong Forest Ecosystem of Zhejiang, Ningbo, China.
authors.forename: Dezhi
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8482-2372
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li