Belowground bud bank of invasive plants contributes to their successful invasion in coastal wetlands

The capacity of vegetative regeneration can contribute to the invasion success of alien plant species in introduced ranges. Belowground bud bank is a trait closely related to vegetative regeneration, but it is still unknown whether belowground bud bank can help invasive alien plants to successfully invade into native plant communities. We measured bud bank density and aboveground biomass of invasive alien and native plants, and species diversity in four wetlands along a soil moisture gradient in Zhejiang Province in East China. Overall, bud bank density, aboveground biomass, and plant diversity differed significantly among the four wetlands along the soil moisture gradient. Bud bank density, aboveground biomass, and the relative dominance of invasive plants increased with increasing soil moisture, whereas bud bank density and the relative dominance of the native plants showed the opposite trend. For invasive plants, both the proportion of aboveground biomass and the relative dominance were significantly positively related to their bud proportion. These results suggest that belowground bud bank of invasive alien plant species can contribute to their successful invasion in native plant communities. Therefore, measures such as plowing and raking could be taken to destroy or restrict belowground bud bank of invasive alien plants to prevent their invasion and to restore native vegetation.