Similar factors underlie tree abundance in forests in native and alien ranges
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Authors
Aim: Alien plant species can cause severe ecological and economic problems, and therefore attract a lot of research interest in biogeography and related fields. To identify potential future invasive species, we need to better understand the mechanisms underlying the abundances of invasive tree species in their new ranges, and whether these mechanisms differ between their native and alien ranges. Here, we test two hypotheses: that greater relative abundance is promoted by (a) functional difference from locally co-occurring trees, and (b) higher values than locally co-occurring trees for traits linked to competitive ability. Location: Global. Time period: Recent. Major taxa studied: Trees. Methods: We combined three global plant databases: sPlot vegetation-plot database, TRY plant trait database and Global Naturalized Alien Flora (GloNAF) database. We used a hierarchical Bayesian linear regression model to assess the factors associated with variation in local abundance, and how these relationships vary between native and alien ranges and depend on species’ traits. Results: In both ranges, species reach highest abundance if they are functionally similar to co-occurring species, yet are taller and have higher seed mass and wood density than co-occurring species. Main conclusions: Our results suggest that light limitation leads to strong environmental and biotic filtering, and that it is advantageous to be taller and have denser wood. The striking similarities in abundance between native and alien ranges imply that information from tree species’ native ranges can be used to predict in which habitats introduced species may become dominant.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Global Ecology and Biogeography |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Pages (from-to) | 281-294 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| ISSN | 1466-822X |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 01.02.2020 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:
This work was supported by funds designated to T.M.K. under the Helmholtz Recruitment Initiative of the Helmholtz Association. M.T.v.d.S. was supported by the research programme Rubicon with project number 019.171LW.023, financed by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). sPlot was initiated by sDiv, the Synthesis Centre of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig, funded by the German Research Foundation (FZT 118), and now is a platform of iDiv. H.B., J.D., O.P., B.J.‐A., U.J., J.K., M.W. and T.M.K. received funding through iDiv; M.v.K. was supported by the German Research Foundation DFG (project number 264740629), A.G.G. by FONDECYT 11150835, CONICYT‐PAI 82130046 and a Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme (Project PIEF‐GA‐2010–274798), J.P. by the European Research Council Synergy grant ERC‐SyG‐2013‐610028 IMBALANCE‐P; F.E. by a grant from the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF, grant I2086‐B16); M.C., P. Petřík, J. Pergl and P. Pyšek by the Plant Diversity Analysis and Synthesis Centre PLADIAS, no. 14‐15414S (Czech Science Foundation) and long‐term research development project Rozvoj výzkumných organizací RVO 67985939 (The Czech Academy of Sciences), P. Pyšek additionally by Grant projects of excellence in basic research EXPRO no. 19‐28807X (Czech Science Foundation), and H.B. by VEGA 0119/19. We are grateful to all scientists who sampled vegetation plots or measured traits and provided their data. We thank Sonja Knapp for comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors. Global Ecology and Biogeography published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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