Dr. Guangqian Ren Published article on Ecological Processes with the title of "Warming and elevated nitrogen deposition accelerate the invasion process of Solidago canadensis L.".
Abstract: Invasive species can threaten native diversity and alter ecosystem processes while interacting with other components of global environmental change. A space-for-time substitution experiment was performed to investigate how warming and nitrogen deposition affects the invasion process of a plant. The results showed that the competitiveness of Solidago canadensis decreased linearly with its invasion degree (p < 0.05). Non-linear regression showed that S. canadensis invasion levels of 53%, 53%, 68%, 55% and 58% were the critical thresholds for shifting the direction or magnitude of chlorophyll, leaf nitrogen, leaf shape index, diameter, and root/shoot ratio, respectively. Compared with the ambient treatment, the interaction of increased temperature and nitrogen deposition led to significant increases in the growth and competitiveness of S. canadensis, and this effect was detected in every stage of the invasion, throughout the invasion process. This study provides fairly robust evidence that environmental change promotes the invasion process of S. canadensis in general, not simply in specific stages. In the future, rather than focusing on specific stages, experimental studies should consider examining invasion on a broader scale.
Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32071521, 32271587, ); the Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality Technology Innovation Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20220030); the Jiangsu Planned Projects for Postdoctoral Research Funds (2021K384C).
DOI: 10.1186/s13717-022-00407-8