喜旱莲子草(Alternanthera philoxeroides)原产南美洲,是中国国家环保总局公布的9种危害最大的外来入侵植物之一。该文比较了分布于河岸带4种小生境中,喜旱莲子草和它的同属土著植物莲子草(Alternanthera sessilis)的盖度和生长特征变化,以了解影响喜旱莲子草入侵的生境和生长特征。按照距水体的距离远近,这些小生境依次为:废弃农田、沼泽、河边沙石滩及河间卵石滩。 结果表明,这4种生境在基质性质、土壤养分和生产力方面存在显著的差异。在生产力较高的生境中(如废弃地和沼泽),喜旱莲子草是优势种,但在生产力较低的生境中(即河边砾石滩及河间卵石滩)土著种莲子草的相对盖度大于喜旱莲子草。随着生境土壤养分的增加,喜旱莲子草表现出明显的形态可塑性。喜旱莲子草与觅光相关的几个形态指标,如茎的长度、节间长度和节的数目以及单叶面积都显著增加;同时,那些着生叶片的分枝也从匍匐状转变成直立生长。在生产力较高的生境中,喜旱莲子草的植冠高度和茎干密度成正相关,表明喜旱莲子草对极度密集的种群环境有很强的适应能力。这些结果说明,较高的形态可塑性和优先占据具有较高土壤养分的小生境是喜旱莲子草沿河岸带入侵的基本特征,可能也是促成其入侵的重要的内部(植物自身)和外部(生境)条件。

Background and Aims Biological invasions by non-native species have become a major environmental problem and a focus of ecological research. Relatively few studies have focused on invasibility and invasivness among microhabitats within communities. We compared the abundance and performance of non-native Alternanthera philoxeroides (alligator weed) and its co-occurring native congener, Alternanthera sessilis (sessile joyweed), in a wetland community along a riparian zone in southeast China to test the hypotheses that: 1) the degree of invasion differs between different types of microhabitats within the community; 2) microhabitat types that differ in invasion also differ in soil resource availability or in sediment characteristics likely to affect resource availability; and 3) phenotypic plasticity must have played a key role in adaptation to diverse habitats for A. philoxeroides because of its extremely low genetic diversity throughout China.

Methods Field surveys of natural distribution and performance of the two varieties on adjacent and contrasting microhabitat types (abandoned field, swamp, marsh dunes and gravel dunes) along a riparian zone were conducted in the autumn of 2003.

Key Results Soil organic matter, total N, available P and K were significantly higher and pH was lower in dryland and swamp than in dunes. Total vegetation coverage was significantly higher in dryland and swamp than in dunes. The relative coverage of A. philoxeroides was much higher than that of A. sessilis in more productive habitats (i.e. dry land and swamps), but this pattern reversed in less productive habitats (i.e. marsh and gravel dunes). A. philoxeroides showed greater morphological plasticity in response to habitat variation. Especially, the CV (coefficient of variation) of leaf area and branch angle in A. philoxeroides was 70 and 83 times greater than those in A. sessilis, respectively. Several morphological traits related to light foraging increased significantly from marsh and gravel dunes to more productive habitats (dry land and swamps). These traits included stem length, internode length, the number of nodes, and leaf length and width. Moreover, the leaf-bearing stems grew more vertically in dry land and swamps. Meanwhile, these traits in A. sessilis had no obvious variations among microhabitats.

Conclusions These results suggest that high plasticity in vertical growth and occupancy of soil microhabitat of rich nutrient resources may facilitate the invasions of A. philoxeroides.