Introduction

Alien plant invasions still accelerating (Seebens et al. 2020), and it has seriously threatened biodiversity and ecosystem function (Lewis et al. 2015, Pyšek et al. 2020, Schaffner et al. 2020, Vilà et al. 2011). Soil biota as a driver of successful alien plant invasions was supported by many studies (Callaway et al. 2004, Keane et al. 2002, Reinhart et al. 2006, Reinhart et al. 2003, Zhang et al. 2020). Mycorrhizal fungi contribute to increased water and nutrient utilization to promote plant growth (Batten et al. 2006, Keane et al. 2002), but pathogens decrease plant growth (Maron et al. 2011). The enemy release hypothesis (ERH) predicts that absence or reduced the numbers of enemies, such as microbial pathogens, in their introduced range drives invasion success of alien plants (Callaway et al. 2004, Keane et al. 2002). Prunus serotina as a native species in United States but invasive in Europe, a study showed that soil microbial from United States killed seedlings ofPrunus serotina , while soil microbes in European (i.e., non-native range) produced positive feedback on seedling growth (Reinhart et al. 2003). On the other hand, invasive plants may benefit from beneficial microbes. The enhanced mutualist hypothesis (Callaway et al. 2004) predicts that invasive plants may recruit more arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in their non-native ranges, which contributes to their successful invasion. For example, Tian et al. (2021) found that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonization and biomass of invasive plants were higher than that in their native range. Compared to native plants, invasive plants tend to enhance their mutualistic relationship with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Davis 2018). However, this advantage may weak over time, as either alien invasive species benefit from the presence of beneficial bacteria or the escape of soil natural enemies in short-term, while enemies accumulate in large numbers with the abundance of invasive species (Dostál et al. 2013, Lau et al. 2016, Mitchell et al. 2010).
Several studies have shown that soil microbes are influenced by temporal variation in alien plant invasions. In introduced range, pathogen richness increased with the invasive plant residence time, while the proportional release from pathogens decreased, and the increase in pathogenic microbes may suppress the growth of invasive plants themselves, thereby inhibited their invasion (Callaway et al. 2013, McGinn et al. 2018, Mitchell et al. 2010, Stricker et al. 2016). But a study showed that promotion of soil microbes on invasive plants independent of invasion period (Day et al. 2015). There are also studies have found that microbes richness tended to decrease with increasing invasion history, but arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities showed increasing recovery (Lankau 2011). The mixed results suggest that whether invasive plants benefit from beneficial microbes, escape from soil pathogens, or are more strongly suppressed by soil pathogens are related to temporal variation, but how soil microbes affect invasive plants over time remains uncertain.
Although it has been confirmed soil microbes affect invasive plants was relative to temporal variation. But we usually focus on the effect of soil microbes on a certain growth stage of invasive plants and native plants (e.g., seedlings; Reinhart et al. 2003), rather than changes in continuous growth processes. A meta-analysis found that soil microbes had a greater effect on invasive plants than native plants, and this effect by soil microbes tended to weak over time since introduction (Liu et al. 2023). However, the above research results are all based on comparing the historical time of invasion, and no research has focused on that in the short term. Therefore, understanding the differences how soil microbes affect invasive plants and native plants in short term may help us better understand the mechanisms of invasive plant invasion.
To test the effects of soil biota and temporal variation in short-term, as well as their interactions on invasive plant species and native plants species, we grew four congeneric perennials pairs of invasive plant species and native plant species under soil treatments (living vs sterilized) and harvest time treatments (first vs second). We predicted that soil microbes have different effects on invasive plant species and native plant species over time in short-time, and for invasive plants, will show a result of promoting first and then inhibiting.