Bio-Protection Research Centre, Lincoln University, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand.
Bio-Protection Research Centre, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand.
Science. 2020 May 29;368(6494):967-972. doi: 10.1126/science.aba2225.
Ecosystem process rates typically increase after plant invasion, but the extent to which this is driven by (i) changes in productivity, (ii) exotic species' traits, or (iii) novel (non-coevolved) biotic interactions has never been quantified. We created communities varying in exotic plant dominance, plant traits, soil biota, and invertebrate herbivores and measured indicators of carbon cycling. Interactions with soil biota and herbivores were the strongest drivers of exotic plant effects, particularly on measures of soil carbon turnover. Moreover, plant traits related to growth and nutrient acquisition explained differences in the ways that exotic plants interacted with novel biota compared with natives. We conclude that novel biological interactions with exotic species are a more important driver of ecosystem transformation than was previously recognized.
生态系统过程速率通常在植物入侵后增加，但这种增加是由以下因素驱动的：（i）生产力的变化，（ii）外来物种的特征，还是（iii）新的（非协同进化的）生物相互作用。我们创建了不同外来植物优势度、植物特征、土壤生物群和无脊椎草食动物的群落，并测量了碳循环的指标。与土壤生物群和草食动物的相互作用是外来植物效应的最强驱动因素，特别是对土壤碳转化的测量。此外，与生长和养分获取有关的植物特征解释了外来植物与新生物群相互作用的方式与本地植物不同。我们的结论是，与外来物种的新的生物相互作用是生态系统转化的一个比以前认识到的更为重要的驱动因素。
