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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #402519
Research Project: Management and Biology of Arthropod Pests and Arthropod-borne Plant Pathogens

Location: Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research

Title: Invasion is not a monolith: invasion effects by Vincetoxicum rossicum (Kleopow) Barbar. differ based on background environment

Author
item SCHNURR, JACLYN - Wells College
item Biazzo, Jeromy
item Milbrath, Lindsey

Submitted to: Ecological Society of America Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2023
Publication Date: 8/1/2023
Citation: Schnurr, J.L., Biazzo, J., Milbrath, L.R. 2023. Invasion is not a monolith: invasion effects by Vincetoxicum rossicum (Kleopow) Barbar. differ based on background environment. Ecological Society of America Abstracts. PS 11-146.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The current dogma in invasive species research is that invasive species decrease biodiversity through their effects on native species. However, researchers have been stymied to show consistent effects of invasive species on biodiversity, possibly due to the role that background environmental factors have on controlling species composition. This study looked at invasion by Vincetoxicum rossicum (Kleopow) Barbar. at two sites in Central New York: Wehle State Park (WSP) in Henderson, NY and Great Gully (GG) in Union Springs, NY. WSP is located on t he shores of Lake Ontario and has very little soil depth while GG is in the Finger Lakes in an area of abundant glacial till. Sites were established in 2009 and were resampled using the point intercept method in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Simpson’s Index of Diversity (D) was calculated at all sites, as was the species richness of all species, which was further broken down into the richness of native and invasive species. Patterns differed between sites. At GG diversity was significantly different among years (F=8,815, P< 0.001). However, significantly lower species diversity occurred in plots with no V. rossicum (D=0.72) while the highest species diversity occurred in plots with high cover of V. rossicum (D=0.81; F=12.9, P< 0.001). In contrast, there was no difference in diversity among years at WSP, but the highest species diversity occurred in plots with either no (D=0.8) or little (D=0.8) V. rossicum and the lowest species diversity (D=0.57) was found in plots with high amounts of V. rossicum (F=21.1, P< 0.001). Similarly, species richness showed significant effects at WSP where it was lower in plots with high invasive species cover (F=14.4, P< 0.001) but there was no impact of invasion on richness at GG. Native species richness was significantly higher in areas with high amounts of V. rossicum at GG (F=10.5, P< 0.001), but significantly lower in plots with high V. rossicum at WSP (F=201.8, P< 0.001). These results demonstrate that other factors must be considered when trying to understand the impacts of invasive species on biodiversity. For example, native species richness was much lower at WSP (average = 13 species, with 4 native species and 9 non-native) as compared to GG (average = 16 species, with 10 native species and 6 non-native); perhaps the lack of soil allows for the community to be more impacted by invasion.