INVESTIGADORES
LONGO maria silvana
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Does soil biota drive or hinder altitudinal expansion of invasive trees?
Autor/es:
URCELAY, CARLOS; LONGO SILVANA; TECCO, PAULA
Reunión:
Congreso; 32 nd New Phytologist Symposium; 2013
Resumen:
In addition to climate, biotic interactions might well limit tree recruitment and expansion along
altitudinal gradients. Here we examined whether soil biota constrains the altitudinal expansion of
invasive trees that do not occur at higher, albeit climatically suitable, altitudes in mountains from
central Argentina (non-native range). Seedlings of three invasive trees -Ligustrum lucidum, Gleditsia
triacanthos, and Pyracantha angustifolia- were grown in the greenhouse on soils originated at four
altitudes, spanning the whole altitudinal range of the region (900, 1600, 2200, and 2700 masl). Three
different soil biota treatments were nested within each altitudinal treatment: a) sterile soil, b) sterile
soil + microorganisms excluding mycorrhizal fungi and c) sterile soil + microorganisms excluding
mycorrhizal fungi + arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Responses to treatments were idiosyncratic. While
Ligustrum and Pyracantha achieved lower biomass when growing on soils from higher altitudes they
were not affected by soil biota. In contrast, Gleditsia was not affected by altitude per se but was
positively affected by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, notably at higher altitudes. Our results suggest
that biotic and abiotic properties of soils may drive or hinder altitudinal expansion of invasive trees
depending on their identity.