Seed germination of native plants in soil transformed by invasive plants Acer negundo and Heracleum sosnowskyi

Abstract

We tested the hypothesis of the effect of soils transformed by invasive plants (Acer negundo L. and Heracleum sosnowskyi Manden.) on native plants germination. We conducted vegetation experiments in germination of Festuca rubra L. and Trifolium repens L. in upper layer of urban soil collected in invasive plants thickets and in nearby areas without invasive plants in 2016–2017. We also used the sod-podzolic soil from old suburban meadow as a control. Differences in seed germination on soils transformed by invasive plants and non-transformed soils were insignificant. We could not confirm the effect of soils collected from Acer negundo and Heracleum sosnowskyi thickets on plants germination by GLM analysis.