Synergistic impacts of co-occurring invasive grasses cause persistent effects in the soil-plant system after selective removal

1. Human influence on the environment is so extensive that virtually all ecosystems on the planet are now affected by biological invasions. And, often, ecosystems are invaded by multiple co-occurring non-native species. Hence, it is important to understand the impacts these invasions are producing on biodiversity and ecosystem processes.
2. Here, we present results of a two-year long field experiment where we tested the effects of co-occurring invasive C4 African grasses in a Cerrado area in central Brazil. We compared plant and arthropod communities, plant biomass, and soil nitrogen dynamics and soil chemical characteristics across five experimental treatments: Urochloa decumbens removal, Melinis minutiflora removal, both U. decumbens, and M. minutiflora removal, U. decumbens and M. minutiflora invaded plots, and uninvaded Cerrado. We hypothesized that selective removal of invasive grasses would have distinct effects on the native ecosystem structure and functioning. We expected that e...