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Spatial pattern of invasive and native graminoids in the Brazilian cerrado

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Abstract

Invasive grasses are an important threat in tropical savannas and grasslands and may be affected by natural and anthropogenic features of the environment. They may affect native species at a variety of scales, but a spatially explicit assessment of their effects is lacking. We studied the spatial pattern of native and invasive graminoids in Brazilian cerrado in southeastern Brazil and assessed the effects of vegetation type, elevation, and edges. We sampled native grasses, native sedges, and two invasive grass species (Urochloa decumbens and Melinis minutiflora) along three 301- to 1334-m-long transects encompassing grassland, forest, and savanna. We used wavelet transforms, generalized additive models, and null model simulations for analysis. Invasive grasses were mostly found in open vegetation. Neither native nor invasive species were consistently affected by elevation or edges. Much of the spatial variation could be explained by small-scale autocorrelation, but M. minutiflora had a more heterogeneous pattern than U. decumbens. Invasive grasses were negatively related to native ones at a variety of scales, from 1 to 66 m, and we observed both positive and negative relations between the two invasive species, with positive ones a finer scales. We hypothesize that spatial pattern characteristics of different invasive species may be related to their invasion potential.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Cinthya Santos, Viviane Pereira, Carolline Fieker, and others for help with fieldwork; Marco Batalha, Milton Ribeiro, Hugo Sarmento, Marcus Cianciaruso, Tadeu Barros, Luciano Lopes, and two anonymous reviewers for suggestions to previous versions of this manuscript; José Eduardo dos Santos and Marcelo Nivert for information on the study sites; and Juliana Santos for help with the map. PD was financed by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq Grant 141623/2011-0), the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade via the Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP), and the Brazilian Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes). DMSM was financed by CNPq (307839/2014-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biology, Federal University of Bahia, Rua Barão de Jeremoabo, 668, Ondina - Salvador, BA, 40.170-115, Brazil

    Pavel Dodonov

  2. Ecology and Conservation Lab, Department of Hydrobiology, Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, 13.562-180, Brazil

    Pavel Dodonov, Rafael de Oliveira Xavier & Dalva M. Silva Matos

  3. Biology Department, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS, B3H 3C3, Canada

    Karen A. Harper

  4. Biosciences Institute, University of São Paulo, Rua do Matão, 321, São Paulo, SP, 05508-090, Brazil

    Rafael de Oliveira Xavier

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  1. Pavel Dodonov
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  4. Dalva M. Silva Matos
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Correspondence to Pavel Dodonov.

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Communicated by James D A Millington.

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Dodonov, P., Harper, K.A., de Oliveira Xavier, R. et al. Spatial pattern of invasive and native graminoids in the Brazilian cerrado. Plant Ecol 220, 741–756 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-019-00949-6

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