The Role of Soil Microbes in Plant Invasions: Inhibition at Home and Facilitation Away?

生物学中一个尚未回答的主要问题是，为什么一些外来植物达到了非常高的密度，并在它们被引入的社区中造成了严重破坏，但它们是本地社区的次要组成部分。 该项目是一个广泛的国际研究计划，以测试一个新兴的假设，入侵植物的成功-土壤真菌控制外来入侵植物在其本地社区，但不是在社区，这些外来入侵。 这项研究将涉及在北美和欧亚大陆的田间试验，以测试土壤真菌对斑点矢车菊（Centaurea maculosa）和多叶大戟（Euphorbia esula）的影响，以及土壤真菌如何与人为干扰相互作用。 此外，为了概括这两种入侵者，将进行植物-土壤微生物反馈实验，以确定本地土壤和引进土壤之间的正反馈和负反馈的强度如何不同。 这项研究有可能改变我们理解和应对外来植物入侵的方式。 入侵生物每年造成数十亿美元的损失，美国投入大量资金用于化学和专业昆虫控制杂草。 相反，如果土壤真菌在入侵成功中发挥了重要作用，那么我们就有必要重新定位我们对抗杂草的努力。

A major unanswered question in biology is why some exotic plants attain very high densities and wreak havoc in communities where they are introduced, but are minor components of their native communities. This project is a broad international research program to test an emerging hypothesis for the success of invasive plants - that soil fungi control exotic invasive plants in their native communities, but not in the communities that these exotics invade. This research will involve field experiments in North America and Eurasia to test the effect of soil fungi on spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) and leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula) and how soil fungi interact with human-caused disturbance. As well, to generalize beyond these two invaders, plant-soil microbial feedback experiments will be conducted to determine how the strength of positive and negative soil feedback differs between native and introduced soil. This research has the potential to change the way we understand and respond to exotic plant invasions. Invasive organisms cause billions of dollars of damage annually, and the United States invests substantial funding into chemical and specialist insect based control of weeds. Instead, if soil fungi play an important role in invasive success, a reorientation of our efforts to fight weeds would be warranted.