Nicolas DASSONVILLE, Basile HERPIGNY and Pierre MEERTS
Alien invasive plants represent an important dimension of global change. In NW Europe, a number of
alien species are rapidly spreading (Fallopia japonica, Senecio inaequidens, Solidago gigantea, Impatiens glandulifera, Prunus serotina, Heracleum mantegazzianum, Rosa rugosa). It is suspected that these species have profound impacts on soil chemical properties and ecosystem functioning.
We examine the impacts of these species on organic matter cycling. This include litterbags experiments in situ, assessment of change in the composition of soil animal communitites, and alterations in nitrogen mineralisation due to changes in the soil microbe communties.
We also test if other components of global change, specifically eutrophication, may enhance the invasive capacity and impacts of alien invasive species. This is studied in cultivation in semi-controlled conditions.
An important study case are Japanese knotweeds (Fallopia div. taxa). Different taxa are spreading in Belgium. We compare functional traits of a representative sample of genotypes in order to test if differences in invasive capacity among them might be due to differences in some ecophysiological attributes, including specific leaf area, shoot architecture, nitrogen economy and phenotypic plasticity.
This research is supported by the Fonds de la recherche scientifique (FRS/FNRS) (FRFC project in collaboration with ULg-Gembloux AgroBioTech, Lab. of Ecology) and the Belgian Science Policy (Science for a Sustainable Development, Project Alien Impact, in collboration with UA, VUB, UCL and ULg-Gembloux AgroBioTech).