Effect of water stress on community invasibility in a sub-humid grassland

Ten monoliths from three grassland communities, which differ in soil characteristics and species composition (sparsely, densely, and tall-densely vegetated communities), were collected in the field. They were transported to a growth chamber to perform a water supply experiment (with and without water stress; n=10 for each community). Water stress consisted of the suspension of irrigation for 20 days. Each monolith was sown with 100 seeds of E. plana. Community characteristics and seedling emergence were assessed. Between and within communities, we compared seedling emergence and survival of E. plana between water stress treatments, and examined relationships with functional groups cover, standing dead biomass, bare soil and species richness.