Abstract
Invasive trees can cause catastrophic reductions in diversity in invaded grasslands and savannas. Such reductions often appear to be particularly severe in the new biogeographic ranges of these invaders. We present results of a field study that examined the effect of slash pine (Pinus elliottii), native to the southeastern US, on savanna groundcover vegetation in the state of São Paulo in Brazil (cerrado) and in its native range in Mississippi (USA) following fire exclusion. We compared the difference in several community attributes between slash pine understories and adjacent open area in both São Paulo and Mississippi, and compared the effects of needle litter on native species in both continents. Slash pine was correlated with lower non-graminoid species richness and plant density in both São Paulo and Mississippi; however, these apparent negative effects were 4.6 and 11 times stronger in the non-native range of Brazil (for richness and density, respectively). Native graminoids were not present in invaded cerrado. Overhead slash pine canopy cover, pine density, and needle depth were 5.2, 3.7, and at 14 times higher, respectively, in Brazil than in Mississippi savannas, for similarly-aged pine stands. One year after implementing needle litter treatments in Brazilian cerrado and restored Mississippi savanna, plant density and non-graminoid species richness were highly suppressed, but to similar degrees in both ranges. Our results suggest that higher rates of needle deposition, associated with higher tree densities, contribute to the stronger suppression of native species in Brazil than in Mississippi.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the staffs of Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge and Santa Bárbara Ecological Station for management and access to the sites and Matthew Abbott, Sean Moyer, the 2014 Plant Ecology class at the University of Mississippi, and Antonio Melo, Natashi Pilon, and Geissianni Assis for help with field work. Funding was provided by the University of Mississippi Biology Department to SB and a grant to GD from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Brazil) – CNPq (#303179/2016-3).
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Brewer, J.S., Souza, F.M., Callaway, R.M. et al. Impact of invasive slash pine (Pinus elliottii) on groundcover vegetation at home and abroad. Biol Invasions 20, 2807–2820 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-018-1734-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-018-1734-z