Biological invasions have severe impacts on the composition and function of natural ecosystems. Biological control may be a potential method to effectively control invasive species, especially using the native biocontrol agents. Cusuta spp. species are parasitic plants and were verified as potential biological control agents. Bidens pilosa L. (Compositae) , an annual forb native to South America, commonly invaded subtropical south鄄western China. C. australis (Convolvulaceae) , native to China, is a holoparasitic plant. Here we aimed to find out whether Cuscuta spp. species are verified as potential effective biocontrol agents on the invasive plant Bidens pilosa or alternatively and whether they induce compensatory growth
Wulu Mountain Nature Reserve is located between the western margin of the North China Plain and the eastern margin of the Loess Plateau, and shows distinct transitional vegetation types and high species richness. Thus the reserve has an important role to play in plant biodiversity research. In the present study we investigated the plant species distribution along an altitudinal gradient in the Wulu Mountain Nature Reserve in October, 2010. The vegetation zones and dominant species in each community changed with increasing elevation, and a combination of rainfall and temperature determined the major communities in the forests. The plant communities were classified as Robinia pseudoacacia forest, Pinus bungeana forest, mixed conifer鄄broadleaf forest, and Quercus liaotungensis forest. We investigated the species composition of plant communities in different plots to discern patterns of species diversity and distribution along the altitudinal gradient. We calculated 琢diversity, 茁鄄diversity and 酌鄄diversity using the data collected from the study plots and analyzed with a generalized additive model to examine the following relationships: 1) changes in the total number of trunks and diameter at breast height in all forest plots along the altitudinal gradient; 2) species richness in the tree, shrub and herbaceous layers with altitude; 3) the Shannon鄄Wiener diversity index for the tree, shrub and herbaceous layers with altitude; 4) Pielou忆s evenness index for the tree, shrub and herbaceous layers with altitude; 5) 茁鄄diversity for the tree, shrub and herbaceous layers with altitude; 6) 酌鄄diversity with altitude; and 7) the relationships of grass species richness with total number of trunks and diameter at breast height in all forest plots. The results showed that total number of trunks and diameter at breast height in all forest plots increased with the increase in elevation. Species richness, the Shannon鄄Wiener diversity index and
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.