Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Pedobiologia - Journal of Soil Ecology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pedobi Impact of plant invasion (Solidago gigantea L.) on soil mesofauna in a riparian wet meadows Maria Sterzyńska a, ⁎ , Julia Shrubovych b,c , Paweł Nicia d a Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wilcza 64, 00-679 Warsaw, Poland b Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sławkowska 17, 31-016 Cracow, Poland c State Museum of Natural History, Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Teatral’na St. 18, UA 79008, L’viv, Ukraine d University of Agriculture, A. Mickiewicz 21, 31-120 Cracow, Poland ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Riparian areas Exotic plant invasion Solidago gigantea Soil microarthropods Diversity Trophic structure ABSTRACT Invasive plants are known to have significant impacts on habitat structure and abiotic properties of the soil, and can noticeably modify soil animal community composition, diversity and function. We studied the effects of environmental change induced by an intercontinental, exotic invasive plant, Solidago gigantea L., on the resident Collembola and Protura communities at the species level, abundance of the soil mesofaunal communities at a coarse taxonomic level (Collembola, Protura, Oribatida, Gamasida, Actinedida) and abundance of the major trophic guilds (detritivores and predators). This research was conducted in an extended complex of riparian Molinia meadows in the upper Vistula drainage basin, SE Poland. Soil properties and soil mesofaunal commu- nities were compared between Molinia meadow patches in well-established S. gigantea-invaded sites (about 20 years old) and uninvaded patches of Molinia meadows. Our results showed significant invader effects on soil properties such as pH. Collembola communitiy composition, in contrast to Protura communities, were sig- nificantly different between invaded vs. uninvaded meadows. Soil mesofaunal communities as measured by abundance of the major taxa were not altered, and relative abundance of detritivores and predators remained the same. The study shows that observed changes in soil properties induced by invasive plants can have a moderate effect on soil mesofaunal diversity and structure, primarily with regard to Collembola community composition, and a weak effect on modifications of the trophic structure. 1. Introduction 1 Plants are among the most commonly studied invasive organisms in terrestrial ecosystems (Lowry et al., 2013). Despite the recognition that habitat alteration through biological invasions can radically change the species composition and functioning of native ecosystems (Levine, 2008), data about the impact of invasive plants on resident animals are rather limited (Schirmel et al., 2016). Plant invasion can influence different levels of ecosystem organization, including animal communities (Herrera and Dudley, 2003; Wu et al., 2009); however, plant invasion as a driver of changes in local environmental factors and arthropod communities, mainly related to shifts in plants species composition and interaction with abiotic factors, has rarely been stu- died (van Hengstum et al., 2014). A meta-analytical approach to plant invasion with respect to abundance, diversity and ecological fitness of the native animal communities has shown that their response is highly unpredictable and can vary across ecosystems, animal classes, and feeding types (Schirmel et al., 2016). It is still unclear how exotic plant invasion modifies soil community composition, diversity, structure and function (Wolfe and Klironomos, 2005), despite the fact that invasion can change ecological links between above- and below-ground biota (Wardle et al., 2004; Bardgett and Wardle 2010; Eisenhauer, 2012; Bardgett and van der Putten, 2014), soil biodiversity and vegetation (Sylvain and Wall, 2011), and as a result of the disruption of functional relationships among plant and soil properties (Tekiela and Barney, 2015). The ecological consequences of plant invasion on soil biota have been related mainly to soil microbiota (Zhang et al., 2009; Liao et al., 2013) or to plant-soil feedback (van Putten et al., 2012). The response of larger soil organisms, especially soil mesofaunal taxa, has been much less studied, although the invasion of the Asiatic weed Reynoutria sa- chalinensis (F. Schmidt) Nakai to mixed forest stands in Europe had a profound effect on soil oribatid mite community composition (Skubała, 2012). Also, the invasion of the annual species Impatiens glandulifera Royle, native in western Himalayas to a European deciduous forest can affect collembolan species composition and increase the total http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pedobi.2017.07.004 Received 3 February 2017; Received in revised form 30 May 2017; Accepted 17 July 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: majka@miiz.waw.pl (M. Sterzyńska), shrubovych@gmail.com (J. Shrubovych), rrnicia@cyf-kr.edu.pl (P. Nicia). Pedobiologia - Journal of Soil Ecology 64 (2017) 1–7 0031-4056/ © 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. MARK