Impact of a native invasive weed ( Microstegium ciliatum ) on regeneration of a tropical forest
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Impact of a native invasive weed (Microstegium ciliatum) on regeneration of a tropical forest T. T. A. Truong . M. E. Andrew . G. E. St. J. Hardy . T. Q. Pham . Q. H. Nguyen . B. Dell
Received: 27 February 2020 / Accepted: 29 October 2020 Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Infestations of invasive plants can hinder forest regeneration in biodiversity hotspots in tropical Asia. Microstegium ciliatum is a native grass in parts of tropical and subtropical Asia. To assess impacts of Microstegium on secondary forest succession in its native range, a field experiment was undertaken in abandoned agricultural settlements in Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam from 2016 to 2018. Plots were established across 6 sites under low, medium and high tree canopy levels. In manipulated plots, M. ciliatum was killed with a grass-specific herbicide and invading vines were cut in a subset of plots; control plots were
Communicated by Scott J Meiners. T. T. A. Truong (&) M. E. Andrew G. E. St. J. Hardy Environmental and Conservation Sciences, Murdoch University, Perth, WA, Australia e-mail: [email protected] T. T. A. Truong Faculty of Environment, Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, Thai Nguyen, Vietnam
untreated. The results show that in its native range Microstegium can be invasive with impacts on forest restoration. Application of herbicide reduced the cover of M. ciliatum from 85 to 3% and increased the diversity and number of tree seedlings within the 2 years of the experiment. There was no difference in tree seedling abundance between the herbicide and herbicide ? vine cutting treatments, but the number of tree seedling species was significantly higher in the latter in the 2nd year after treatments were applied under the medium canopy. The overstory influenced forest regeneration in the manipulated plots as there was a greater number of tree seedlings and species in plots under medium and high-density canopies. The results suggest that management of the native invasive grass under tree canopies will facilitate forest restoration after disturbance from agriculture and lead to the early recruitment of mid and late successional forest species. Keywords Native invasive grass Natural area weed Invasive species impacts Restoration Tropical forest National park
T. Q. Pham Forest Protection Research Centre, Vietnamese Academy of Forest Science, Hanoi, Vietnam Q. H. Nguyen Cuc Phuong National Park, Nho Quan, Vietnam B. Dell Agriculture Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch 6150, Australia
Introduction Invasive plants can pose significant impacts on the abundance and biodiversity of native species (Groves et al. 2003; Pimentel et al. 2005) as well as alter
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Plant Ecol
ecosystem functions (Vitousek and Walker 1989; Simberloff 2000). Grasses in particular have become widespread due to their high dispersal and strong competition with native species in a range of ecosystems (D’Antonio and Vitousek 1992). Therefore, invasive grasses are often a b
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