Geographical, socioeconomic, and ecological determinants of exotic plant naturalization in the United States: insights and updates from improved data

By

Guo, Qinfeng
Rejmánek, Marcel
Wen, Jun

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2012

Original Publication

NeoBiota : advancing research on alien species and biological invasions

Volume

12

Pages

41-55

Subjects

domestic exotics , Native species diversity , spatial correlation , species richness , state-level analysis

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sophia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.12.2419

 

Abstract

Previous studies on alien species establishment in the United States and around the world have drastically improved our understanding of the patterns of species naturalization, biological invasions, and underlying mechanisms. Meanwhile, relevant new data have been added and the data quality has significantly increased along with the consistency of related concepts and terminology that are being developed. Here using new and/or improved data on the native and exotic plant richness and many socioeconomic and physical variables at the state level in the United States, we attempt to test whether previously discovered patterns still hold, particularly how native and exotic species are related and what are the dominant factors controlling the plant naturalization. We found that, while the number of native species is largely controlled by natural factors such as area and temperature, exotic species and exotic fraction are predominantly influenced by social factors such as human population. When domestically introduced species were included, several aspects in earlier findings were somewhat altered and additional insights regarding the mechanisms of naturalization could be achieved. With increased data availability, however, a greater challenge ahead appears to be how many and which variables to include in analyses.