Linking prairie invasions by Sericea (Lespedeza cuneata) to resource competition and plant-soil feedback -- Restricted access to full text
Date
2012-04-18Author
Coykendall, Katherine
Advisor
Houseman, Gregory R.Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Katherine Coykendall. (2012). Linking Prairie Invasions by Sericea (Lespedeza cuneata) to Resource Competition and Plant-soil Feedback. -- In Proceedings: 8th Annual Symposium: Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects. Wichita, KS: Wichita State University, p.22-23
Abstract
A proposed mechanism for plant invasions is modification of the soil in ways that enhance the growth of the invader relative to native species, but, to date, few clear examples have been documented. Two greenhouse experiments were conducted to test how the invader and several natives responded to field soil with a history of either high invader (sericea) or native plant abundance. Both experiments detected decreased biomass for several of the native species when grown with sericea while sericea had increased growth in soils with a history of sericea plants depending on water/neighbor identity. These results suggest that positive soil feedbacks may partially explain the invasive success of sericea in the Great Plains.
Description
Paper presented to the 8th Annual Symposium on Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects (GRASP) held at the Marcus Welcome Center, Wichita State University, April 18, 2012.
Research completed at the Department of Biological Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences