Accounting for soil microbial communities during ecological restoration

<p>Invasive plants often negatively impact the (a)biotic conditions of ecosystems. These impacts can persist after removal of the invader as ‘legacy-effects’. I assessed whether the invasion of native Cumberland Plain Woodland (CPW) by African olive, <em>Olea europaea </em>subsp. <em>cuspidata</em>, alters soil (a)biotic properties and, if so, the effect it has on the performance of five native CPW species. I then tested whether native soil inocula can mitigate the potential biotic impacts on CPW soils. The five study species were grown in mesocosms under five soil treatments; CPW soil, African olive-invaded soil, and invaded soil inoculated with CPW soil, native rhizosphere soil, or both. The impact of soil treatment on various metrics of native plant performance was determined. Olive-invaded soils were found to have higher pH, total carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, and nitrate nitrogen but lower ammonia nitrogen. Of the study species, only the biomass of <em>Indigofera australis </em>and <em>Dodonaea viscosa </em>increased in olive soils. Nodulation of <em>I. australis </em>did not differ between treatments. In contrast, <em>Acacia implexa </em>biomass and nodulation decreased in invaded soils and responded positively to inocula. Overall, my results suggest that native soil biota may benefit the outcomes of ecological restoration projects only on a species-specific basis.</p>