Impacts of Garlic Mustard Invasion on a Forest Understory Community

Stinson, Kristina A.; Kaufman, Sylvan; Durbin, Luke; Lowenstein, Frank

doi:10.1656/1092-6194(2007)14[73:iogmio]2.0.co;2

Cited by 117 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Indeed, elsewhere in the invaded range-including sites near the present study's locations-garlic mustard reaches high densities in forested sites that are difficult to eradicate and have documented ecological effects on plant community and soil microbial dynamics , Stinson et al 2007, Burke 2008, Rodgers et al 2008b, Barto et al 2011, Lankau 2011a, Lankau 2011b, Morris et al 2012.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…The contrast between our study locations and other areas where garlic mustard has become an aggressive invader of forest interior habitat (Stinson et al 2007, Rodgers et al 2008a, Pardini et al 2009, Van Riper et al 2010) requires additional research. One possible explanation is that plants at our sites retain an overwhelming preference for high light sites because they frequently encounter edge habitat and/or other disturbance-related patches of high light.…”

Section: Additional Constraints To Invasionreduced Performance In Shadementioning

confidence: 84%

“…Each site represents typical secondary growth forests, comprised of mixed hardwood canopy trees. Similar forests to the west of this area have up to 62% incursion into the forest interior, at densities of 50-100 adult plants m À2 (Stinson et al 2007). At the current study sites, edge populations have persisted for at least three decades and can reach up to 100 adult plants m À2 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In its native range, it primarily occupies open sites such as hedges, roadsides, and forest edges, preferring partial or full sun to extremely shaded sites. Unlike most invasive plants, garlic mustard can become very abundant in shaded forest interior sites in North America where it now threatens native plant community composition (Anderson et al 1996, Meekins and McCarthy 1999, Stinson et al 2006, Stinson et al 2007, Van Riper et al 2010) and disrupts mutualisms between soil mycorrhizal fungi and native tree seedlings (Stinson et al 2006, Callaway et al 2008, Wolfe et al 2008). However, we have observed that in some parts of the invaded range, garlic mustard establishes at high densities in edge habitats, but performs poorly within forest habitats despite a long history of presence on the regional landscape (Stinson and Carpenter 2009;K.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Physiological constraints on the spread of Alliaria petiolata populations in Massachusetts

Stinson

Seidler

2014

Ecosphere

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Abstract. The expansion of plant species into new sites is limited by a combination of environmental conditions and the capacity for adaptive variability in trait expression. Here, we investigated whether and how adaptation to forest edge conditions might be limiting the spread of the invasive plant Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) into the forest interior in eastern Massachusetts. We conducted a common garden experiment to test whether plants from forest edge vs. forest interior microhabitats differ in their plasticity and physiological responses to experimental shading. All plants in the experiment responded to shading with reductions in growth, photosynthetic activity, and reproduction regardless of the source environment, indicating a high degree of plasticity and a strong likelihood that most seeds in our study populations are produced at the forest edge. Effects of the source habitat on physiological function were detectable, but small compared to the magnitude in growth and reproductive responses to light. Plants from the forest edge physiologically outperformed those from the interior when grown in the shade, but had equally low reproductive success. Plants originating in the forest interior, in contrast, demonstrated greater allocation to growth in relation to photosynthesis and reproduction compared to plants originating at the forest edge. We compare our findings to earlier work on the importance of plasticity for invasive spread in this species, and conclude that failure by garlic mustard to invade some forest interior sites is due in part to overwhelming reproductive and physiological disadvantages in low light. We further suggest that in some cases shade tolerance in this species is constrained in favor of plastic responses that optimize fitness in high light conditions. The implications for geographic variation in the spread and management of this species are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Section: Additional Constraints To Invasionreduced Performance In Shadementioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Physiological constraints on the spread of Alliaria petiolata populations in Massachusetts

Stinson

Seidler

2014

Ecosphere

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“…Alliaria petiolata invades nutrient-rich, semi-shaded habitats such as forest edges and moist woodlands. Dense invasive populations can reduce native plant diversity and limit recruitment of native trees (Carlson and Gorchov 2004;Stinson et al 2007) by disrupting mycorrhizal communities that are important for economically valuable trees and native understory plants (Stinson et al 2006;Burke 2008;Wolfe et al 2008;Barto et al 2011;Lankau 2011), and by altering litter decomposition as well as soil nitrogen and phosphorus cycles .…”

Section: A Widespread and Successful Invader With Demonstrated Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Global Garlic Mustard Field Survey (GGMFS): challenges and opportunities of a unique, large-scale collaboration for invasion biology

Colautti

Franks²,

Hufbauer³

et al. 2014

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To understand what makes some species successful invaders, it is critical to quantify performance differences between native and introduced regions, and among populations occupying a broad range of environmental conditions within each region. However, these data are not available even for the world's most notorious invasive species. Here we introduce the Global Garlic Mustard Field Survey, a coordinated distributed field survey to collect performance data and germplasm from a single invasive species: garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) across its entire distribution using minimal resources. We chose this species for its ecological impacts, prominence in ecological studies of invasion success, simple life history, and several genetic and life history attributes that make it amenable to experimental study. We developed a standardised field survey protocol to estimate population size (area) and density, age structure, plant size and Colautti et al. / NeoBiota 21: 29-47 (2014) 30 fecundity, as well as damage by herbivores and pathogens in each population, and to collect representative seed samples. Across four years and with contributions from 164 academic and non-academic participants from 16 countries in North America and Europe thus far, we have collected 45,788 measurements and counts of 137,811 plants from 383 populations and seeds from over 5,000 plants. All field data and seed resources will be curated for release to the scientific community. Our goal is to establish A. petiolata as a model species for plant invasion biology and to encourage large collaborative studies of other invasive species.

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