RUcore: Rutgers University Community Repository
The community-level and ecosystem-level consequences of feedbacks between the soil ecosystem and the plant community during forest understory invasion
Descriptive
TypeOfResource
Text
TitleInfo
(ID = T-1)
Title
The community-level and ecosystem-level consequences of feedbacks between the soil ecosystem and the plant community during forest understory invasion
Identifier
ETD_2752
Identifier
(type = hdl)
http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001600001.ETD.000056316
Language
LanguageTerm
(authority = ISO639-2);
(type = code)
eng
Genre
(authority = marcgt)
theses
Subject
(ID = SBJ-1);
(authority = RUETD)
Topic
Ecology and Evolution
Subject
(ID = SBJ-2);
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Soil microbial ecology
Subject
(ID = SBJ-3);
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Plant invasions
Subject
(ID = SBJ-4);
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Plant-soil relationships
Subject
(ID = SBJ-5);
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Introduced organisms
Abstract
(type = abstract)
This dissertation addresses the consequences of reciprocal interactions between the plant and the soil microbial communities, and how those interactions affect nutrient cycling and plant competition during exotic plant invasion. Each chapter is linked by the common theme of evaluating the importance of these feedbacks to the rate of plant invasion in the forest understory. In the first two chapters, I utilize microcosms to evaluate the importance of leaf litter inputs for plant-soil feedback. The first chapter demonstrates that leaf litter from native and exotic plants create divergent soil microbial communities, altering soil enzyme activities and nitrogen cycling, which in turn affects the growth of native and invasive plants. However, while this plant-soil interaction affects growth rate, it does not change the competitive hierarchy or the success of the invasive plant. The second chapter shows how the effect of an exotic species' leaf litter on soil microbes varies over a range of invasion severity. Using litter mixtures ranging from 0% to 100% exotic litter, I show that ecosystem-level effects of invasion on carbon and nitrogen cycling are linearly related to the exotic plant density, while community-level effects on soil microbes are non-linear and very sensitive to low levels of invasion. In the final chapters, I extend these results to examine whole-plant effects in more natural plant communities. The third chapter uses a large-scale field experiment to explore the temporal dynamics of invasion impacts. I show that the short-term impact of native and invasive plants on soil microbes is weak, while long-term effects are much stronger. However, after restoration of native plants, the legacy effect of invasion remains strong. Using experimental litter-removal, I also show that belowground plant litter more strongly influences the soil microbial community than aboveground litter. The fourth chapter examines how the diversity of the native community influences the invasion impact on soils. I show that while diversity has little direct effect, individual native plant species can influence how an exotic invasive shrub affects the soil ecosystem. Together, these results show that the importance of plant-soil feedbacks for exotic invasion is context- and scale-dependent, exhibiting nonlinear dynamics that depend on the native community and the degree of invasion, and vary in strength over time.
PhysicalDescription
Form
(authority = gmd)
electronic resource
Extent
vii, 167 p. : ill.
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Note
(type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note
(type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note
(type = vita)
Includes vita
Note
(type = statement of responsibility)
by Kenneth John Elgersma
Name
(ID = NAME-1);
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Elgersma
NamePart
(type = given)
Kenneth John
NamePart
(type = date)
1980-
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
author
DisplayForm
Kenneth Elgersma
Name
(ID = NAME-2);
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Ehrenfeld
NamePart
(type = given)
Joan G.
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
chair
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Joan G. Ehrenfeld
Name
(ID = NAME-3);
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Morin
NamePart
(type = given)
Peter J.
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Peter J. Morin
Name
(ID = NAME-4);
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Green
NamePart
(type = given)
Edwin J.
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Edwin J. Green
Name
(ID = NAME-5);
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Holzapfel
NamePart
(type = given)
Claus
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Claus Holzapfel
Name
(ID = NAME-6);
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Casper
NamePart
(type = given)
Brenda B.
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
outside member
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Brenda B. Casper
Name
(ID = NAME-1);
(type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name
(ID = NAME-2);
(type = corporate)
NamePart
Graduate School - New Brunswick
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
school
OriginInfo
DateCreated
(qualifier = exact)
2010
DateOther
(qualifier = exact);
(type = degree)
2010-10
Place
PlaceTerm
(type = code)
xx
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
(type = RULIB)
ETD
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
(type = local)
rucore19991600001
Location
PhysicalLocation
(authority = marcorg);
(displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
Identifier
(type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3NZ87DZ
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
Back to the top
Rights
RightsDeclaration
(AUTHORITY = GS);
(ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
RightsHolder
(ID = PRH-1);
(type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Elgersma
GivenName
Kenneth
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
(ID = RE-1);
(AUTHORITY = rulib)
Type
Permission or license
DateTime
2010-06-10 16:45:21
AssociatedEntity
(ID = AE-1);
(AUTHORITY = rulib)
Role
Copyright holder
Name
Kenneth Elgersma
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
(ID = AO-1);
(AUTHORITY = rulib)
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
Back to the top
Technical
ContentModel
ETD
MimeType
(TYPE = file)
application/pdf
MimeType
(TYPE = container)
application/x-tar
FileSize
(UNIT = bytes)
747520
Checksum
(METHOD = SHA1)
2dd80f77f8bae20b89f2d2905cd6142421b22add
Back to the top
Statistical Profile