Can native clonal moso bamboo encroach on adjacent natural forest without human intervention?

Shangbin Bai, Yixiang Wang, Richard T. Conant, Guomo Zhou, Yong Xu, Nan Wang, Feiyan Fang, Juan Chen
2016 Scientific Reports  
Native species are generally thought not to encroach on adjacent natural forest without human intervention. However, the phenomenon that native moso bamboo may encroach on surrounding natural forests by itself occurred in China. To certificate this encroaching process, we employed the transition front approach to monitor the native moso bamboo population dynamics in native Chinese fir and evergreen broadleaved forest bordering moso bamboo forest in Tianmu Mountain Nature Reserve during the
more » ... d between 2005 and 2014. The results showed that the bamboo front moved toward the Chinese fir/evergreen broadleaved stand with the new bamboo produced yearly. Moso bamboo encroached at a rate of 1.28 m yr −1 in Chinese fir forest and 1.04 m yr −1 in evergreen broadleaved forest, and produced 533/437 new culms hm −2 yr −1 in the encroaching natural Chinese fir/evergreen broadleaved forest. Moso bamboo coverage was increasing while adjacent natural forest area decreasing continuously. These results indicate that native moso bamboo was encroaching adjacent natural forest gradually without human intervention. It should be considered to try to create a management regime that humans could selectively remove culms to decrease encroachment. The invasion of exotic species has become a global problem and received increasing attention 1,2 . Invasive non-native plants can occupy the space and reduce the biodiversity of native ecosystem composed of local species, disrupt nutrient and hydrologic cycles, and modify the disturbance regimes and geomorphology of invaded ecosystems 3,4 . Understanding the mechanisms underlying biological invasions is crucial to evaluating invasions and will benefit for the management and restoration of invaded ecosystems 3,5 . However, almost all of the area expansions reported are about non-native species. The studies that quantify expansion or overabundance of native species are scarce. Some native species became overabundant in their natural distribution range that occupied the space of other native species like exotic species invasion, impacting seriously local ecosystem 6 . These negative effects are often paid less attention when the overabundant species is economically valuable. Bamboo is one of most valuable plants providing with lots of goods and services. Its remarkable growth rate and versatile properties such as renewability, strength and the high number of applications, have made it one of the most important plants 7 . Bamboo forests are important for biodiversity, from providing food and shelter to large animals (e.g. Giant Pandas and Mountain Gorillas) and birds, to soil organisms, insects, and other plants and shrubs that together make up the bamboo forest ecosystems 8 . Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) is one of the most widespread subtropical bamboos in the world. It is mainly distributed across southern China, including 12 provinces such as Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan, etc. Moso bamboo is the fastest growing plant in the world that can grow up to 119 cm in one day and 24 m high in 40 to 50 days 9 . From March to May is the fast growth period for shoots and new culms, while from July to September is the period of rhizome growth and shoot bud division 9 . Moso bamboo was introduced to Japan in 1736 from China 10 . As an exotic species, moso bamboo forest invasion was found 30 years ago in Japan. Moso bamboo has invaded secondary deciduous broad-leaved forests in eastern Japan near Tokyo 11,12 and in central Japan near Kyoto 13 , broadleaved forest, coniferous forest, bush and grassland near Hirasawa and Kofuki of eastern and western Japan 14 . Such phenomena revealed that the moso bamboo has potential invasiveness.
doi:10.1038/srep31504 pmid:27600881 pmcid:PMC5013281 fatcat:q566lfje7vgjviddpisefdttaa