Which features at home make a plant prone to become invasive?

By

Galán Díaz, Javier
De La Riva, Enrique
Martín-Forés, Irene
Vilà, Montserrat

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023

Original Publication

NeoBiota : advancing research on alien species and biological invasions

Volume

86

Pages

1--20

Subjects

climatic niche , Exotic plants , functional traits , Mediterranean-climate , source-area approach

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sophia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.86.104039

 

Abstract

Determining the factors that pre-adapt plant species to successfully establish and spread outside of their native ranges constitutes a powerful approach with great potential for management. While this source-area approach accounts for the bias associated with species’ regions of origin, it has been only implemented in pools of species known to be established elsewhere. We argue that, in regions with well-known introduction histories, such as the Mediterranean Biome, the consideration of co-dominant non-introduced species as a control group allows a better understanding of the invasion process. For this purpose, we used occurrence data from GBIF and trait data from previous studies to find predictors of establishment and invasion. We compare the frequency, climatic niche and functional traits of 149 co-dominant plant species in their native region in southern Spain, considering whether they have colonised other Mediterranean-climate regions or not and their level of invasion. We found that large native ranges and diverse climatic niches were the best predictors of species establishment abroad. Moreover, coloniser species had longer bloom periods, higher growth rates and greater resource acquisition, whereas coloniser species becoming invasive had also greater reproductive height and nitrogen use efficiency. This framework has the potential to improve prediction models and management practices to prevent the harmful impacts from species in invaded communities.