Many exotic plant invaders pose a serious threat to native communities, but little is known about the dynamics of their impacts over time. In this study, we explored the impact of an invasive plant Heracleum mantegazzianum (giant hogweed) at 24 grassland sites invaded for different periods of time (from 11 to 48 years). Native species' richness and productivity were initially reduced by hogweed invasion but tended to recover after ~30 years of hogweed residence at the sites. Hogweed cover declined over the whole period assessed. A complementary common garden experiment suggested that the dynamics observed in the field were due to a negative plant-soil feedback; hogweed survival and biomass, and its competitive ability were lower when growing in soil inocula collected from earlier-invaded grasslands. Our results provide evidence that the initial dominance of an invasive plant species and its negative impact can later be reversed by stabilising processes.

Institute of Botany Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic CZ 252 43 Průhonice Czech Republic

References provided by Crossref.org

Predicting microbially mediated plant coexistence is sensitive to vital rate identity and soil conditioning history

Evolution of plasticity prevents postinvasion extinction of a native forb

Duration of the conditioning phase affects the results of plant-soil feedback experiments via soil chemical properties

Population-specific responses to an invasive species

Global Invader Impact Network (GIIN): toward standardized evaluation of the ecological impacts of invasive plants

Intraspecific variability in allelopathy of Heracleum mantegazzianum is linked to the metabolic profile of root exudates

A unified classification of alien species based on the magnitude of their environmental impacts