Microbe-Assisted Plant Invasion

Beneficial plant-microbe interactions facilitate plant performance and improve ecological functions. However, facilitative interactions between exotic plants and indigenous microbes can also occur, resulting in enhanced growth of exotic plants and suppressed growth of native plants, ultimately leading to the invasion of the exotic plants. Invasive plants disrupt native communities and negatively impact ecosystems. On the other hand, they may encounter growth limits when the interactions gradually shift from facilitative to competitive over time. Understanding the introduction-naturalisation-invasion continuum is vital to assessing the current invasion status and predicting future invasiveness. In this chapter, we synthesise and discuss the roles of soil microbes in aiding or restricting plant invasion. Future research directions are also proposed.