A community resembling semi-natural meadow is as resistant to goldenrod invasion as highly productive commercial grassland

Abstract

Alien goldenrods (Solidago and Euthamia) invade improperly managed grasslands causing serious environmental problems. The general knowledge regarding habitat resistance against invasion does not allow predicting whether species-rich semi-natural meadows or highly productive artificially sown grasslands are more resistant to invasion by goldenrods. To test the differences in resistance, an experiment was conducted. A community resembling a semi-natural, species-rich meadow and a commercial grassland was created in containers in 2018 using seed mixes, with open soil serving as the control. Three goldenrod seedlings representing particular species (Solidago canadensis L. s.l., S. gigantea Aiton, and Euthamia graminifolia (L.) Nutt.) were planted in the test containers with the different communites in 2019. The vegetation was cut once per year during the first and second years of the experiment. In September of the third year, the number of goldenrod ramets, the height of the tallest goldenrod ramet, and the flowering stage were measured and assessed. In addition, the dry biomass of goldenrods and accompanying species were weighed. The results showed no significant differences between total biomass production of the examined communities, except for E. graminifolia, for which species-rich meadow produced more biomass than the commercial grassland and control. Both communities strongly reduced ramet numbers and height and goldenrod biomass production compared to the control. No differences were found between these two vegetation types, except for the flowering stage of S. canadensis and E. graminifolia, which could not produce seeds in the species-rich meadow community. The results suggest that semi-natural, species-rich meadows are reasonable alternatives to species-poor commercial grasslands to control goldenrod invasion.