Impact of invasive alien plant species on soil processes: a review

Abstract

Majority of research papers dealing with the impact of invasive plant species have addressed autecology of invasive species, factors facilitating the spread of these species, change in community structure and economic losses. Soil processes which change in response to plant invasion and, in turn, affect the recruitment and growth of both native as well as invasive species, are often ignored. The authors review the existing literature on the impact of invasive plant species to show that several soil properties and processes are substantially altered. These changes support feed back mechanisms, which could reverberate up to landscape level and affect ecosystem structure and biogeochemical cycles. Evidently, studies need to focus on soil processes for better understanding of the invasion process so that appropriate management strategy could be developed to combat the onslaught of biological invasion.