Nutrient enrichment promotes invasion success of alien plants via increased growth and suppression of chemical defenses

In support of the prediction of the enemy release hypothesis regarding a growth-defense trade-off, invasive alien plants often exhibit greater growth and lower anti-herbivory defenses than native plants. However, it remains unclear how nutrient enrichment of invaded habitats may influence competitive interactions between invasive alien and co-occurring native plants, as well as production of anti-herbivore defense compounds, growth-promoting hormones, and defense-regulating hormones by the two groups of plants. Here, we tested whether: (i) nutrient enrichment causes invasive alien plants to produce greater biomass and lower concentrations of the defense compounds flavonoids and tannins than native plants; and (ii) invasive alien plants produce lower concentrations of a defense-regulating hormone jasmonic acid (JA) and higher concentrations of a growth-promoting hormone gibberellic acid (GA3). In a greenhouse experiment, we grew five congeneric pairs of invasive alien and native plant species under two levels each of nutrient enrichment (low vs. high), simulated herbivory (leaf clipping vs. no-clipping), and competition (alone vs. competition) in 2.5-L pots. In the absence of competition, high-nutrient treatment induced a greater increase in total biomass of invasive alien species than that of native species, whereas the reverse was true under competition as native species benefitted more from nutrient enrichment than invasive alien species. Moreover, high-nutrient treatment caused a greater increase in total biomass of invasive alien species than that of native species in the presence of simulated herbivory. Competition induced higher production of flavonoids and tannins. Simulated herbivory induced higher flavonoid expression in invasive alien plants under low-nutrient than high-nutrient treatments. However, flavonoid concentrations of native plants did not change under nutrient enrichment and simulated herbivory treatments. Invasive alien plants produced higher concentrations of GA3 than native plants. Taken together, these results suggest that impact of nutrient enrichment on growth of invasive alien and co-occurring native plants may depend on the level of competition that they experience. Moreover, invasive alien plants might adjust their flavonoid-based defense more efficiently than native plants in response to variation in soil nutrient availability and herbivory pressure. Our findings suggest that large-scale efforts to reduce nutrient enrichment of invaded habitats may help to control future invasiveness of target alien plant species.

Automated summary

Invasive alien plants usually exhibit greater growth and lower anti-herbivory defenses than native plants, and nutrient enrichment of invaded habitats may influence the competitive interactions between invasive alien and native plants. This study found that high-nutrient treatment promoted the growth of invasive alien species, especially in the absence of competition, while native species benefitted more from nutrient enrichment in the presence of competition. Invasive alien plants also adjusted their flavonoid-based defense more efficiently than native plants in response to soil nutrient availability and herbivory pressure.