Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T13:01:55.344Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Growth and Resource Use of the Invasive Grass, Pampasgrass (Cortaderia selloana), in Response to Nitrogen and Water Availability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

George L. Vourlitis  and
Joanna L. Kroon
George L. Vourlitis*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, San Marcos, CA 92096, USA
Joanna L. Kroon
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, San Marcos, CA 92096, USA
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: georgev@csusm.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Exotic invasive species are nonnative species that thrive outside of their native habitat, and while it is difficult to determine which exotic plants will become invasive, successful invaders often share a wide range of traits including high growth rate and reproductive output, vegetative reproduction, high population growth rates, early reproductive age, phenotypic and physiological plasticity, and high resource use efficiency. Here we report on the response of pampasgrass, an important exotic invasive plant of the western United States, to experimental variations in soil nitrogen (N) and water availability. Given its ability to invade a wide variety of ecosystems in southern California, we hypothesized that pampasgrass would have higher water and N use efficiency under conditions of low water and N availability but rapid growth and resource use under conditions of high water and N availability. Our data support this hypothesis and indicate that pampasgrass exhibited large variations in growth, carbon allocation, morphology, and N and phosphorus (P) nutrition to variations in N availability and water table depth. Many of these traits are highly correlated with invasive performance, and the high N and P use efficiency observed under low soil N (control) and water table, coupled with the large increase in physiological performance and resource use under high N and water table, indicate that pampasgrass is highly flexible to soil resource levels that are typical for coastal sage scrub and riparian ecosystems of southern California. Such flexibility in resource use could allow pampasgrass to persist in low-resource environments and expand as resource levels increase.

Keywords

Pampasgrass, Cortaderia selloana (Schultes) Asch. & GraebnerCoastal sage scrubexotic speciesMediterranean-type ecosystemsresource use efficiencyriparian ecosystem
Type
Weed Biology and Ecology
Information
Weed Science , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , March 2013 , pp. 117 - 125
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Baker, H. G. 1974. The evolution of weeds. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Sys. 9: 1–24.Google Scholar
Berendse, F. and Aerts, R. 1987. Nitrogen use efficiency: a biologically meaningful definition? Funct. Ecol. 1: 293–296.Google Scholar
Bossard, C., Randall, J., and Hoshovsky, M. 2000. Invasive Plants of California's Wetlands. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 12–19, 124–132.Google Scholar
Bremner, J. M. 1996. Nitrogen—Total in Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 3. Chemical Methods. Madison, WI: Soil Science Society of America and American Society of Agronomy. Pp. 1085–1122.Google Scholar
Brunel, S., Schrader, G., Brundu, G., and Fried, G. 2010. Emerging invasive alien plants for the Mediterranean Basin. OEPP/EPPO Bull. 40: 219–238.Google Scholar
Burns, J. H. 2004. A comparison of invasive and non-invasive dayflowers (Commelinaceae) across experimental nutrient and water gradients. Divers. Distrib. 10: 387–397.Google Scholar
Coffman, G. C., Ambrose, R. F., and Rundel, P. W. 2010. Wildfire promotes dominance of invasive giant reed (Arundo donax) in riparian ecosystems. Biol. Invasions 12: 2723–2734.Google Scholar
Connor, H. 1973. Breeding systems in Cortaderia (Gramineae). Evolution 27: 663–678.Google Scholar
Davies, A., Riley, J., and Walton, D. 1990. Plant form, tiller dynamics and aboveground standing crops of the range of Cortaderia pilosa communities in the Falkland Islands. J. Appl. Ecol. 27: 298–307.Google Scholar
Davis, M. A. and Pelsor, M. 2001. Experimental support for a resource-based mechanistic model of invasibility. Ecol. Lett. 4: 421–428.Google Scholar
Domenech, R. and Vila, M. 2008a. Response of the invader Cortaderia selloana and two coexisting natives to competition and water stress. Biol. Invasions 10: 903–912.Google Scholar
Domenech, R. and Vila, M. 2008b. Cortaderia selloana seed germination under different ecological conditions. Acta Oecol. 33: 93–96.Google Scholar
Fenn, M. E., Baron, J. S., Allen, E. B., Rueth, H. N., Nydick, K. R., Geiser, L., Bowman, W. D., Sickman, J. O., Meixner, T., Johnson, D. W., and Neitlich, P. 2003. Ecological effects of nitrogen deposition in the western United States. Bioscience 53: 404–420.Google Scholar
Fenn, M. E., Jovan, S., and Yuan, F. 2008. Empirical and simulated critical loads for nitrogen deposition in California mixed conifer forests. Environ. Pollut. 155: 492–511.Google Scholar
Funk, J. L. 2008. Differences in plasticity between invasive and native plants from a low resource environment. J. Ecol. 96: 1162–1173.Google Scholar
Funk, J. L. and Vitousek, P. M. 2007. Resource-use efficiency and plant invasion in low-resource systems. Nature 446: 1079–1081.Google Scholar
Gundersen, P., Emmett, B. A., Kjønaas, O. J., Koopmans, C. J., and Tietema, A. 1998. Impact of nitrogen deposition on nitrogen cycling in forests: a synthesis of NITREX data. For. Ecol. Manag. 101: 37–55.Google Scholar
Harper, J. L. 1977. Population Biology of Plants. San Diego, CA: Academic. 892 p.Google Scholar
Hirose, T. 1987. A vegetative plants growth model: adaptive significance of phenotypic plasticity in matter partitioning. Funct. Ecol. 1: 195–202.Google Scholar
Ishida, F. Y., Oliveira, L. E. M., Carvalho, C. J. R., and Alves, J. D. 2002. Efeitos da inundação parcial e total sobre o crescimento, teor de clorofila e fluorescência de Setaria anceps e Paspalum repens . Ciênc. Agrotec. 26: 1152–1159 [Portugese?].Google Scholar
Knops, J. M. H. and Reinhart, K. 2000. Specific leaf area along a nitrogen fertilization gradient. Am. Midl. Nat. 144: 265–272.Google Scholar
Koerselman, W. and Meuleman, A. F. M. 1996. The vegetation N ∶ P ratio: a new tool to detect the nature of nutrient limitation. J. Appl. Ecol. 33: 1441–1450.Google Scholar
Lambrinos, J. G. 2000. The impact of Cortaderia jubata (Lemoine) Stapf on an endangered Mediterranean-type shrubland in California. Divers. Dist. 6: 217–231.Google Scholar
Lambrinos, J. G. 2001. The expansion history of a sexual and asexual species of Cortaderia in California, USA. J. Ecol. 89: 88–98.Google Scholar
Lambrinos, J. G. 2002. The variable invasive success of Cortaderia species in a complex landscape. Ecology. 83: 518–529.Google Scholar
Mack, R., Simberloff, D., Lonsdale, W., Evans, H., Clout, M., and Bazzaz, F. 2000. Biotic invasions: causes, epidemiology, global consequences, and control. Ecol. Appl. 10: 689–710.Google Scholar
Mielke, M. S., Almeida, A. F., Gomes, F. P., Aguilar, M. A., and Mangabeira, P. A. 2003. Leaf gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence and growth responses of Genipa americana seedlings to soil flooding. Environ. Exp. Bot. 50: 221–231.Google Scholar
Okada, M., Ahmad, R., and Jasieniuk, M. 2007. Microsatellite variation points to local landscape plantings as sources of invasive pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana) in California. Mol. Ecol. 16: 4956–4971.Google Scholar
Osunkoya, O. O., Bayliss, D., Panetta, F. D., and Vivian-Smith, G. 2010. Variation in ecophysiology and carbon economy of invasive and native woody vines of riparian zones in south-eastern Queensland. Aust. Ecol. 35: 636–649.Google Scholar
Padgett, P. E., Allen, E. B., Bytnerowicz, A., and Minnich, P. 1999. Changes in soil inorganic nitrogen as related to atmospheric nitrogenous pollutants in southern California. Atmos. Environ. 33: 769–781.Google Scholar
Pearcy, R. W., Ehleringer, J., Mooney, H. A., and Rundel, P. W. 1989. Plant Physiological Ecology. New York: Chapman & Hall. p. 457.Google Scholar
Reich, P. B., Ellsworth, D. S., and Walter, M. B. 1998. Leaf structure (specific leaf area) modulates photosynthesis–nitrogen relations: evidence from within and across species and functional groups. Funct. Ecol. 12: 948–958.Google Scholar
Rejmanek, M. and Richardson, D. M. 1996. What attributes make some plant species more invasive? Ecology. 77: 1655–1661.Google Scholar
Sala, A., Smith, S. D., and Devitt, D. A. 1996. Water use by Tamarix ramosissima and associated phreatophytes in a Mojave Desert floodplain. Ecol. Appl. 6: 888–898.Google Scholar
Silla, F. and Escudero, A. 2004. Nitrogen-use efficiency: trade-offs between N productivity and mean residence time at organ, plant and population levels. Funct. Ecol. 18: 511–521.Google Scholar
Stanton, A. E. and DiTomaso, J. M. 2004. Growth response of Cortaderia selloana and Cortaderia jubata (Poaceae) seedlings to temperature, light and water. Madroño 51: 312–321.Google Scholar
Terashima, I. and Evans, J. R. 1988. Effects of light and nitrogen nutrition on the organization of the photosynthetic apparatus in spinach. Plant Cell Physiol. 29: 143–155.Google Scholar
Thornley, J. H. M. 1976. Mathematical models in plant physiology. New York: Academic Press. 331 p.Google Scholar
van der Werf, A., Visser, A. J., Schieving, F., and Landers, H. 1993. Evidence for optimal partitioning of biomass and nitrogen at a range of nitrogen availabilities for a fast- and slow-growing species. Funct. Ecol. 7: 63–74.Google Scholar
Vázquez de Aldana, B. R. and Berendse, F. 1997. Nitrogen-use efficiency in six perennial grasses from contrasting habitats. Funct. Ecol. 11: 619–626.Google Scholar
Vourlitis, G. L., Zorba, G., Pasquini, S. C., and Mustard, R. 2007a. Carbon and nitrogen storage in soil and litter of southern Californian semi-arid shrublands. J. Arid Environ. 70: 164–173.Google Scholar
Vourlitis, G. L., Zorba, G., Pasquini, S. C., and Mustard, R. 2007b. Chronic nitrogen deposition enhances nitrogen mineralization potential of semi-arid shrubland soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 71: 836–842.Google Scholar
Ward, J. P., Smith, S. E., and McClaran, M. P. 2006. Water requirements for emergence of buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare). Weed Sci. 54: 720–725.Google Scholar
Westman, W. E. 1981. Factors influencing the distribution of species of California coastal sage scrub. Ecology. 62: 439–455.Google Scholar