NDA@SZTAKI

The invasion of commonmilkweed (Asclepias syriaca) in sandy old-fields – is it a threat to the native flora?

Kelemen, András

Valkó, Orsolya

Kröel-Dulay, György

Deák, Balázs

Török, Péter

Tóth, Katalin

Miglécz, Tamás

Tóthmérész, Béla

Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

2016

QK Botany / növénytan

QK30 Plant ecology. Plant ethology / növényökológia

Questions: Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.) is an invasive ‘super species’
that has invaded extensive areas in Europe, forming novel ecosystems. One
study has reported neutral effects of common milkweed on the native flora of
sand dune grasslands in Hungary after the removal of invasive pine plantation.
However, the effects of common milkweed on native flora more generally are
unknown. Focusing on the potential effect ofmilkweed, we tested the following
hypotheses: (1) the cover of native grassland species decreases with increasing
cover of common milkweed; and (2) native species with low specific leaf area
(SLA), height, seed mass and clonal spreading ability (i.e. low competitive ability)
are more likely suppressed by milkweed compared with natives with high
competitive ability.
Location: Late successional sandy old-fields invaded by milkweed in the Great
Hungarian Plain (Kiskunsáag, central Hungary).
Methods: We recorded the cover of vascular plants in seven old-fields; in each
old-field we sampled 12 plots including plots with different milkweed cover and
control plots without milkweed. We used linear mixed effect models for exploring
the effects of milkweed on the species richness and cover of native grassland
species. To identify the common traits of the most affected native species, we
used trait-based analyses; we studied leaf–height–seed traits and clonal spreading
ability.
Results: We detected no effect of common milkweed on total species richness,
but it had a negative effect on the cover of grassland species. The negative effect
of common milkweed was most pronounced on the cover of species with low
SLA, low seedmass and low clonal spreading ability.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that native, late successional sandy grasslands
invaded by common milkweed form undesirable novel ecosystems because of
significant negative impacts on the cover of native grassland species, especially
those species with low competitive ability. For these species, management of
milkweed might be needed to ensure their persistence in sandy grasslands in this
landscape.

magyar

Article

PeerReviewed

info:eu-repo/semantics/article

text

http://real.mtak.hu/41913/1/kelemen2016.pdf

Kelemen, András and Valkó, Orsolya and Kröel-Dulay, György and Deák, Balázs and Török, Péter and Tóth, Katalin and Miglécz, Tamás and Tóthmérész, Béla (2016) The invasion of commonmilkweed (Asclepias syriaca) in sandy old-fields – is it a threat to the native flora? APPLIED VEGETATION SCIENCE, 19. pp. 218-224. ISSN 1402-2001

http://real.mtak.hu/41913/

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12225