ARPHA Preprints, doi: 10.3897/arphapreprints.e86933
Evidence of plant-soil feedback in South Texas grasslands associated with invasive Guinea grass
expand article infoElizabeth Ann Bowman, Robert Plowes, Lawrence Gilbert
‡ University of Texas at Austin, Austin, United States of America
Open Access
Abstract

Plant-soil feedback (PSF) processes play an integral role in structuring plant communities. In native grasslands, PSF has a largely negative or stabilizing effect on plant growth contributing to species coexistence and succession, but perturbations to a system can alter PSF leading to long-term changes. Through additions of novel root exudates and litter which alter soil microbial communities and nutrient cycling, invasion by non-native plants has a strong impact on belowground processes with broad shifts in historical PSFs. Guinea grass, Megathyrsus maximus, an emerging invasive in South Texas, can efficiently exclude native plants possibly due to its fast growth rate and high biomass accumulation, but its impacts on belowground processes are unknown. Here, we provide a first look at PSF processes in South Texas savannas currently undergoing invasion by Guinea grass. We addressed the question of how the presence of the invasive M. maximus may alter PSF compared to non-invaded grasslands. Under greenhouse conditions, we assessed germination and growth of Guinea grass and the seed bank in soil collected from native grasslands and grasslands invaded by Guinea grass. We found that Guinea grass grown in soil from invaded grasslands grew taller and accumulated higher biomass than in soil from non-invaded grasslands. Plants grown from the seed bank were more species rich and abundant in soil from non-invaded grasslands but had higher biomass in soil from invaded grasslands. In South Texas savannas, we found evidence to support shifts in the direction of PSF processes in the presence of Guinea grass with positive feedback processes appearing to reinforce invasion and negative feedback processes possibly contributing to species coexistence in non-invaded, native grasslands. Future work is needed to determine the mechanisms behind the observed shifts in PSF and further explore the role PSF has in Guinea grass invasion.

Keywords
Guinea grass, Megathyrsus maximus, Panicum maximum, invasive species, South Texas, grassland, plant-soil feedback, whole-soil inoculum