The Concurrent Decline of the Native Celastrus scandens and Spread of the Non-Native Celastrus orbiculatus in the New York City Metropolitan Area

Steward, Angela May; Clemants, Steven E.; Moore, Gerry; Garden, Brooklyn Botanic

doi:10.2307/3557536

Cited by 18 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Th ese introduced shrubs and vines have multiple impacts. Th ey may alter soil chemistry (Japanese barberry; Ehrenfeld et al 2001), reduce plant diversity and native butterfl y populations (garlic mustard; Stinson et al 2006), and choke native saplings and trees (oriental bittersweet; Steward et al 2003).…”

Section: Invasive Plants: Observed and Projected Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing climate, changing forests: The impacts of climate change on forests of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada

Rustad¹,

Campbell²,

Dukes³

et al. 2012

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Decades of study on climatic change and its direct and indirect effects on forest ecosystems provide important insights for forest science, management, and policy. A synthesis of recent research from the northeastern United States and eastern Canada shows that the climate of the region has become warmer and wetter over the past 100 years and that there are more extreme precipitation events. Greater change is projected in the future. The amount of projected future change depends on the emissions scenarios used. Tree species composition of northeast forests has shifted slowly in response to climate for thousands of years. However, current human-accelerated climate change is much more rapid and it is unclear how forests will respond to large changes in suitable habitat. Projections indicate signifi cant declines in suitable habitat for spruce-fi r forests and expansion of suitable habitat for oak-dominated forests. Productivity gains that might result from extended growing seasons and carbon dioxide and nitrogen fertilization may be offset by productivity losses associated with the disruption of species assemblages and concurrent stresses associated with potential increases in atmospheric deposition of pollutants, forest fragmentation, and nuisance species. Investigations of links to water and nutrient cycling suggest that changes in evapotranspiration, soil respiration, and mineralization rates could result in signifi cant alterations of key ecosystem processes. Climate change affects the distribution and abundance of many wildlife species in the region through changes in habitat, food availability, thermal tolerances, species interactions such as competition, and susceptibility to parasites and disease. Birds are the most studied northeastern taxa. Twenty-seven of the 38 bird species for which we have adequate long-term records have expanded their ranges predominantly in a northward direction. There is some evidence to suggest that novel species, including pests and pathogens, may be more adept at adjusting to changing climatic conditions, enhancing their competitive ability relative to native species. With the accumulating evidence of climate change and its potential effects, forest stewardship efforts would benefi t from integrating climate mitigation and adaptation options in conservation and management plans.

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Section: Invasive Plants: Observed and Projected Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing climate, changing forests: The impacts of climate change on forests of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada

Rustad¹,

Campbell²,

Dukes³

et al. 2012

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“…It can cause damage to trees by girdling them (Lutz 1943), increasing tree susceptibility to ice damage (Siccama et al 1976) or by interfering with forest regeneration by shading out young saplings (McNab and Meeker 1987). Celastrus scandens has an extensive native range in North America (USDA NRCS 2006); however, recent observations in the Northeast have indicated that this species is in serious decline (Fike and Niering 1999;New York State Department of Environmental Conservation 2000;Steward et al 2003). Although the cause of the decline of C. scandens is not known, and its ecological tolerances have not previously been tested, loss of open habitats may be a factor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Comparative performance of invasive and native Celastrus species across environmental gradients

2007

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The ability to understand and predict the success of invasive plant species in their new ranges is increased when there is a sympatric native congener available for comparison. Celastrus orbiculatus (oriental bittersweet) is a liana introduced into the United States in the mid-1800s from East Asia as an ornamental plant. Its native congener, Celastrus scandens (American bittersweet), ranges from the east coast of the United States as far west as Wyoming. In the Northeastern United States, C. orbiculatus is continuing to expand its range while C. scandens appears to be in serious decline. One hypothesis for this decline is that C. scandens does not have such a wide range of ecological tolerances in the current landscape as C. orbiculatus, which seems to tolerate a greater range of resource conditions. To investigate this hypothesis, we transplanted these two species into ten sites that spanned a full range of light and soil moisture conditions to compare their establishment and performance in terms of aboveground growth (biomass and height) and mortality. After two years, C. orbiculatus showed significantly lower mortality and greater biomass across all resource conditions compared to C. scandens. In addition, C. orbiculatus preferred more mesic soil moisture conditions, while C. scandens performed better in drier soil moisture conditions. Since much of the Northeastern United States is now forested, this preference for mesic soil conditions could make it more successful than C. scandens in the region. This study shows the utility of manipulative experiments, particularly those using congeneric native species as benchmarks, for assessing the causes and predicting the course of invasions.

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“…Hybrid individuals are uncommon in the wild, but a previous study found that all genetically identified hybrids had a C. scandens maternal lineage [29]. It has not been demonstrated that this asymmetric hybridization is linked to the decline of C. scandens, but declines are especially severe in parts of the eastern United States where the invasion is the oldest [30,31]. While large-scale plant surveys can provide some insight into the dynamics of invasion and hybridization, fine-scale studies of invasive heterospecific pollen transfer are needed to directly assess impacts on native plants [12,19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterospecific pollination by an invasive congener threatens the native American bittersweet, Celastrus scandens

et al. 2021

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Invasive plants have the potential to interfere with native species’ reproductive success through a number of mechanisms, including heterospecific pollination and hybridization. This study investigated reproductive interactions between a native North American woody vine (American bittersweet, Celastrus scandens) and an introduced congener (oriental bittersweet, C. orbiculatus). The decline of C. scandens in the eastern portion of its range is coincident with the introduction and spread of C. orbiculatus, and the two species are known to hybridize. The relationship between proximity and floral production of conspecific and heterospecific males on fertilization and hybridization rates was measured at a field site in northwestern Indiana, USA where both species occur and reproduce. We found that the invasive vine had an extreme advantage in both male and female floral production, producing nearly 200 times more flowers per staminate plant and 65 times more flowers per pistillate plant than the native. Using nuclear microsatellite DNA markers we found that hybridization rates were asymmetric; 39% of the C. scandens seeds tested were hybrids, compared to only 1.6% of C. orbiculatus seeds. The asymmetric hybridization rates were likely not solely due to greater abundance of C. orbiculatus pollen because experimental hand crosses revealed that C. scandens had a higher rate (41%) of heterospecific fertilization than C. orbiculatus (2.4%). We previously reported that few hybrids were observed in the wild, and hybrids had greatly reduced fecundity. Thus, in our system, the threat posed by heterospecific pollen is not replacement by hybrids or introgression, but rather asymmetric reproductive interference. Reproductive interference extended to distances as great as 100 meters, thus, efforts to conserve the native species must reduce its exposure to C. orbiculatus over a relatively large spatial scale.

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The Concurrent Decline of the Native Celastrus scandens and Spread of the Non-Native Celastrus orbiculatus in the New York City Metropolitan Area

Cited by 18 publications

References 2 publications

Changing climate, changing forests: The impacts of climate change on forests of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada

Changing climate, changing forests: The impacts of climate change on forests of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada

Comparative performance of invasive and native Celastrus species across environmental gradients

Heterospecific pollination by an invasive congener threatens the native American bittersweet, Celastrus scandens

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