The Daily Bulletin Archive

Please join the Biology Department for the seminar "Explaining Variation in the Effects of Non-native Plant Invasions: The Roles of Climate and Resource Availability," presented by Jennifer Fraterrigo, assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, on Tuesday, May 5, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Technology Building 160.

All faculty, staff, and students are welcome.

Seminar Abstract
The effects of non-native plant invasions on ecosystem structure and function often vary regionally, suggesting strong context dependency. This limits our ability to predict changes in ecosystem functioning following invasion. I argue that context dependency can emerge as a result of hierarchical relationships among the processes governing ecosystem response to invasion. I illustrate this idea by showing that forest ecosystem response to Microstegium vimineum, one of the most widespread invasive plant species in the eastern United States, depends on broad-scale patterns in climate and resource availability. Previous studies show that invasion by M. vimineum results in reduced native plant abundance and soil carbon loss. However, we find that macroclimate structures local biotic interactions, such that M. vimineum has negative effects on native plant abundance in drier climates but little effect in wetter climates. Moreover, the effects of M. vimineum invasion on soil carbon storage depend on soil nitrogen availability, such that M. vimineum invasion decreases soil carbon when nitrogen availability is low but increases soil carbon when nitrogen availability is high. These findings suggest that a hierarchical framework can be useful for understanding and predicting invasion effects on ecosystem functioning at the regional scale.