Removal of Soil Microbes Alters Interspecific Competitiveness of Epichloë Endophyte-Infected over Endophyte-Free Leymus chinensis

Epichloë endophytes may not only affect the growth and resistances of host grasses, but may also affect soil environment including soil microbes. Can Epichloë endophyte-mediated modification of soil microbes affect the competitive ability of host grasses? In this study, we tested whether Epichloë endophytes and soil microbes alter intraspecific competition between Epichloë endophyte-colonized (EI) and endophyte-free (EF) Leymus chinensis and interspecific competition between L. chinensis and Stipa krylovii. The results demonstrated that Epichloë endophyte colonization significantly enhanced the intraspecific competitive ability of L. chinensis and that this beneficial effect was not affected by soil microbes. Under interspecific competition, however, significant interactions between Epichloë endophytes and soil microbes were observed. The effect of Epichloë endophytes on interspecific competitiveness of the host changed from positive to neutral with soil microbe removal. Here higher mycorrhizal colonization rates probably contributed to interspecific competitive advantages of EI over EF L. chinensis. Our result suggests that Epichloë endophytes can influence the competitive ability of the host through plant soil feedbacks from the currently competing plant species.

Download Full-text

BENCHMARKING IN THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY

Tourism and hospitality management ◽

10.20867/thm.12.1.15 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 171-182

Author(s):

Ana Vizjak ◽

Romina Alkier Radnić

Keyword(s):

Production Process ◽

Competitive Ability ◽

Production Efficiency ◽

International Economy ◽

Competitive Advantages ◽

Mutual Cooperation ◽

Economic Concept ◽

Management Personnel ◽

Business Efficiency ◽

Modern Economic

Benchmarking in the international economy – in particular, in the economies of the most advanced countries – has emerged fairly recently. This is a modern economic concept that implies improving the performance of a company’s practices with the aim of increasing its competitive ability. Benchmarking is carried out through the mutual cooperation of managers with colleagues in similar or differing businesses; exchanged visits; brief, active participation in other companies; and through other forms of cooperation, providing insight to the production process or various practices in other, usually competitive companies. In essence, benchmarking in a form of education for top management personnel, enabling them to achieve a higher degree of business efficiency, and in turn, to enhance the competitive ability of their business entity,enterprise, company, etc. Highly valued by the Japanese in the 1980s, this type of education resulted in outstanding business achievements by the companies that applied these models of analytical operations. Through the application of this model, managers were provided with insight to the practices of competitive companies. This knowledge acquired from others they sought to apply in their own companies and as a result, they succeeded in considerably improving both the business and production efficiency of their companies. The aim of benchmarking is to detect a company’s internal weaknesses and to identify the competitive advantages of its stronger rivals. The efficiency level of the competition is revealed through an analysis of date gathered.

Download Full-text

Invasion of Solidago gigantea in contrasting experimental plant communities: effects on soil microbes, nutrients and plant-soil feedbacks

Journal of Ecology ◽

10.1111/j.1365-2745.2010.01722.x ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 98 (6) ◽

pp. 1379-1388 ◽

Cited By ~ 45

Author(s):

Deborah Scharfy ◽

Sabine Güsewell ◽

Mark O. Gessner ◽

Harry Olde Venterink

Keyword(s):

Plant Communities ◽

Soil Microbes ◽

Experimental Plant ◽

Solidago Gigantea ◽

Plant Soil

Download Full-text

Interspecific competition between Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans: temperature effect on competitive ability and fitness components

Genetics Selection Evolution ◽

10.1186/1297-9686-15-3-367 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 367 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Catherine Montchamp-Moreau

Keyword(s):

Drosophila Melanogaster ◽

Temperature Effect ◽

Interspecific Competition ◽

Competitive Ability ◽

Drosophila Simulans ◽

Fitness Components

Download Full-text

Fuzzy Model for Assessing the Scope of Work of Railway Passanger Transport Undertaking

JTTTP - JOURNAL OF TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORT THEORY AND PRACTICE ◽

10.7251/jtttp1801015b ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (1-2) ◽

Author(s):

Aleksandar Blagojević ◽

Iskra Stojanova ◽

Marko Subotić ◽

Veljko Radičević

Keyword(s):

Competitive Ability ◽

Market Competition ◽

Fuzzy Model ◽

Competitive Advantages ◽

Quality And Safety ◽

Optimal Solutions ◽

Passenger Transport ◽

Proposed Model ◽

Financial Quality ◽

Better Than

The main objective of the European policy of rail transport is the development of a single railway area. The opening of the railway sector to market competition impose that railway undertakings behave like any other modern enterprises in other markets and in other industries. It means, they must constantly develop and maintain competitive advantages, and be better than others. In today’s very intense competition conditions, this is the most difficult to achieve. The railway undertakings are challenged to find optimal solutions to operate efficiently and effectively, in order not only to survive on the transport market, but also to develop and maintain a competitive advantage. The paper developed innovative model for the evaluation of efficiency of railway operators for passenger transport assessing the scope of work of railway undertakings that can greatly help to increase the competitive ability of railway undertakings in the single railway market. The developed models allow the integration of indicator groups (resources, operational, financial, quality and safety indicators) into a single assessment of the scope of work of railway undertakings and also allow the provision of information about the corrective actions that can improve the scope of work of the railway undertaking. The proposed model has been tested on actual examples, e.g. railway undertaking Railways of Republic of Srpska. The analysis of the results shows exceptional suitability for use of developed approach for assessing the scope of work of railway undertakings.

Download Full-text

Intraspecific variation in indirect plant-soil feedbacks as a driver of a wetland plant invasion

10.1101/160523 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Warwick J. Allen ◽

Laura A. Meyerson ◽

Andrew J. Flick ◽

James T. Cronin

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Interspecific Competition ◽

Intraspecific Variation ◽

Nutrient Availability ◽

Native Species ◽

Local Community ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Soil Biota ◽

Plant Soil ◽

Soil Legacy

ABSTRACTPlant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) can influence plant competition via direct interactions with pathogens and mutualists or indirectly via apparent competition/mutualisms (i.e., spillover to cooccurring plants) and soil legacy effects. Presently, it is unknown how intraspecific variation in PSFs interacts with the environment (e.g., nutrient availability) to influence competition between native and invasive plants. We conducted a fully crossed multi-factor greenhouse experiment to determine the effects of soil biota, interspecific competition, and nutrient availability on biomass of replicate populations from one native and two invasive lineages of common reed (Phragmites australis) and a single lineage of native smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora). Harmful soil biota consistently dominated PSFs involving all three P. australis lineages, reducing biomass by 10%, regardless of nutrient availability or S. alterniflora presence as a competitor. Spillover of soil biota derived from the rhizosphere of the two invasive P. australis lineages reduced S. alterniflora biomass by 7%, whereas soil biota from the native P. australis lineage increased S. alterniflora biomass by 6%. Interestingly, regardless of lineage, P. australis soil biota negatively affected S. alterniflora biomass when grown alone (i.e., a soil legacy), but had a positive impact when grown with P. australis, suggesting that P. australis is preferred by harmful generalist soil biota or facilitates S. alterniflora via spillover (i.e., apparent mutualism). Soil biota also reduced the negative impacts of interspecific competition on S. alterniflora by 13%, although it remained competitively inferior to P. australis across all treatments. Moreover, competitive interactions and the response to nutrients did not differ among P. australis lineages, indicating that interspecific competition and nutrient deposition may not be key drivers of P. australis invasion in North America. Taken together, although soil biota, interspecific competition, and nutrient availability appear to have no direct impact on the success of invasive P. australis lineages in North America, indirect spillover and soil legacies from P. australis occur and may have important implications for co-occurring native species and restoration of invaded habitats. Our study integrates multiple factors linked to plant invasions, highlighting that indirect interactions are likely commonplace in driving successful invasions and their impacts on the local community.

Download Full-text