Allelopathic effect of a native species on a major plant invader in Europe.

Biological invasions have become a major global issue in ecosystem conservation. As formalized in the "novel weapon hypothesis", the allelopathic abilities of species are actively involved in invasion success. Here, we assume that allelopathy can also increase the biotic resistance of native species against invasion. We tested this hypothesis by studying the impact of the native species Sambucus ebulus on the colonization of propagules of the invasive species Fallopiaxbohemica and the subsequent development of plants from these. Achenes and rhizome fragments from two natural populations were grown in a greenhouse experiment for 50 days. We used an experimental design that involved "donor" and "target" pots in order to separate resource competition from allelopathy. An allelopathic treatment effect was observed for plant growth but not for propagule establishment. Treatment affected, in particular, the growth of Fallopia plants originating from achenes, but there was less influence on plants originating from rhizomes. By day 50, shoot height had decreased by 27% for plants originating from rhizomes and by 38% for plants originating from achenes. The number of leaves for plants originating from achenes had only decreased by 20%. Leaf and above- and below-ground dry masses decreased with treatment by 40, 41 and 25% for plants originating from rhizomes and 70, 61 and 55% for plants originating from achenes, respectively. S. ebulus extracts were analysed using high-performance chromatography, and the choice of test molecules was narrowed down. Our results suggest native species use allelopathy as a biotic containment mechanism against the naturalization of invasive species.

Invasive knotweeds are highly tolerant to salt stress.

Japanese knotweed s.l. are some of the most invasive plants in the world. Some genotypes are known to be tolerant to the saline concentrations found in salt marshes. Here we focus on tolerance to higher concentrations in order to assess whether the species are able to colonize and establish in highly stressful environments, or whether salt is an efficient management tool. In a first experiment, adult plants of Fallopia japonica, Fallopia × bohemica and Fallopia sachalinensis were grown under salt stress conditions by watering with saline concentrations of 6, 30, 120, or 300 g L(-1) for three weeks to assess the response of the plants to a spill of salt. At the two highest concentrations, their leaves withered and fell. There were no effects on the aboveground parts at the lowest concentrations. Belowground dry weight and number of buds were reduced from 30 and 120 g L(-1) of salt, respectively. In a second experiment, a single spraying of 120 g L(-1) of salt was applied to individuals of F. × bohemica and their stems were clipped to assess the response to a potential control method. 60 % of the plants regenerated. Regeneration was delayed by the salt treatment and shoot growth slowed down. This study establishes the tolerance of three Fallopia taxa to strong salt stress, with no obvious differences between taxa. Their salt tolerance could be an advantage in their ability to colonize polluted environments and to survive to spills of salt.

The importance of biotic factors in predicting global change effects on decomposition of temperate forest leaf litter.

Increasing atmospheric CO(2) and temperature are predicted to alter litter decomposition via changes in litter chemistry and environmental conditions. The extent to which these predictions are influenced by biotic factors such as litter species composition or decomposer activity, and in particular how these different factors interact, is not well understood. In a 5-week laboratory experiment we compared the decomposition of leaf litter from four temperate tree species (Fagus sylvatica, Quercus petraea, Carpinus betulus and Tilia platyphyllos) in response to four interacting factors: elevated CO(2)-induced changes in litter quality, a 3 degrees C warmer environment during decomposition, changes in litter species composition, and presence/absence of a litter-feeding millipede (Glomeris marginata). Elevated CO(2) and temperature had much weaker effects on decomposition than litter species composition and the presence of Glomeris. Mass loss of elevated CO(2)-grown leaf litter was reduced in Fagus and increased in Fagus/Tilia mixtures, but was not affected in any other leaf litter treatment. Warming increased litter mass loss in Carpinus and Tilia, but not in the other two litter species and in none of the mixtures. The CO(2)- and temperature-related differences in decomposition disappeared completely when Glomeris was present. Overall, fauna activity stimulated litter mass loss, but to different degrees depending on litter species composition, with a particularly strong effect on Fagus/Tilia mixtures (+58%). Higher fauna-driven mass loss was not followed by higher C mineralization over the relatively short experimental period. Apart from a strong interaction between litter species composition and fauna, the tested factors had little or no interactive effects on decomposition. We conclude that if global change were to result in substantial shifts in plant community composition and macrofauna abundance in forest ecosystems, these interacting biotic factors could have greater impacts on decomposition and biogeochemical cycles than rising atmospheric CO(2) concentration and temperature.

Tolerance of Japanese knotweed s.l. to soil artificial polymetallic pollution: early metabolic responses and performance during vegetative multiplication.

The expansion of invasive Japanese knotweed s.l. is of particular concern because of its aptitudes to rapidly colonize diverse environments, especially anthropized habitats generally characterized by their pollution with heavy metals. Whether the presence of heavy metals impacts the performance traits of this plant is a central question to better understand its invasive properties, though no controlled approach to assess these effects was yet reported. In this aim, we undertook greenhouse experiments where rhizome fragments of Japanese knotweed s.l. (Fallopia japonica and Fallopia × bohemica) were grown during 1 and 3 months, in a soil pot artificially polluted or not with heavy metals added in mixture (Cd, Cr, Pb, Zn). Our results showed that (i) the presence of heavy metals delayed rhizome regeneration and induced lowered plant part weights but did not affect plant height after 3 months; (ii) the effect of metals on the metabolic profiles of belowground part extracts was only detectable after 1 month and not after 3 months of growth, though it was possible to highlight the effect of metals independently of time and genotype for root extracts, and torosachrysone seemed to be the most induced compound; and (iii) the hybrid genotype tested was able to accumulate relatively high concentrations of metals, over or close to the highest reported ones for this plant for Cr, Cd and Zn, whereas Pb was not accumulated. These findings evidence that the presence of heavy metals in soil has a low impact on Fallopia sp. overall performance traits during rhizome regeneration, and has a rather stimulating effect on plant growth depending on pollution level.