Phytophagous insect fauna tracks host plant responses to exotic grass invasion

The high dependence of herbivorous insects on their host plants implies that plant invaders can affect these insects directly, by not providing a suitable habitat, or indirectly, by altering host plant availability. In this study, we sampled Asteraceae flower heads in cerrado remnants with varying levels of exotic grass invasion to evaluate whether invasive grasses have a direct effect on herbivore richness independent of the current disturbance level and host plant richness. By classifying herbivores according to the degree of host plant specialization, we also investigated whether invasive grasses reduce the uniqueness of the herbivorous assemblages. Herbivorous insect richness showed a unimodal relationship with invasive grass cover that was significantly explained only by way of the variation in host plant richness. The same result was found for polyphagous and oligophagous insects, but monophages showed a significant negative response to the intensity of the grass invasion that was independent of host plant richness. Our findings lend support to the hypothesis that the aggregate effect of invasive plants on herbivores tends to mirror the effects of invasive plants on host plants. In addition, exotic plants affect specialist insects differently from generalist insects; thus exotic plants affect not only the size but also the structural profile of herbivorous insect assemblages.     

Native species richness buffers invader impact in undisturbed but not disturbed grassland assemblages

Many systems are prone to both exotic plant invasion and frequent natural disturbances. Native species richness can buffer the effects of invasion or disturbance when imposed in isolation, but it is largely unknown whether richness provides substantial resistance against invader impact in the face of disturbance. We experimentally examined how disturbance (drought/burning) influenced the impact of three exotic invaders (Centaurea stoebe, Linaria dalmatica, or Potentilla recta) on native abundance across a gradient of species richness, using previously constructed grassland assemblages. We found that invaders had higher cover in experimentally disturbed plots than in undisturbed plots across all levels of native species richness. Although exotic species varied in cover, all three invaders had significant impacts on native cover in disturbed plots. Regardless of disturbance, however, invader cover diminished with increasing richness. Invader impacts on native cover also diminished at higher richness levels, but only in undisturbed plots. In disturbed plots, invaders strongly impacted native cover across all richness levels, as disturbance favoured invaders over native species. By examining these ecological processes concurrently, we found that disturbance exacerbated invader impacts on native abundance. Although diversity provided a buffering effect against invader impact without disturbance, the combination of invasion and disturbance markedly depressed native abundance, even in high richness assemblages.     

怒江河谷入侵植物与乡土植物丰富度的分布格局与影响因子

外来物种入侵严重威胁着乡土植物多样性并削弱了生态系统服务功能。本文基于滇西北怒江河谷植被调查的样方数据, 从群落水平研究了乡土和入侵植物多样性的空间分布格局, 以及地形、气候、人类干扰等因子对两种格局的影响。本研究共记录到外来入侵植物26种, 隶属于13科21属; 乡土植物1,145种, 分属于158科628属。沿着怒江河谷, 入侵植物物种丰富度随纬度与海拔的增加而减少; 乡土物种丰富度则随纬度增加而增加, 并在海拔梯度上呈单峰格局。运用广义线性模型分析公路边缘效应(反映生境干扰)、气候、地形和土壤等环境因素对物种丰富度分布格局的影响。等级方差分离的结果显示, 公路两侧的生境干扰对入侵种和乡土种的丰富度格局均具有首要影响。在自然环境因子中, 降水量是入侵植物丰富度的主要限制因子, 而乡土物种丰富度则主要受到地形因子尤其是坡向的影响。结构方程模型的分析结果也表明, 乡土植物和入侵植物丰富度之间的负相关关系反映了二者对环境响应的差异。本文结果支持物种入侵的资源可利用性限制假说, 并强调了人类活动对生物多样性的负面影响; 乡土植物或已较好地适应了干旱河谷气候, 但并没有显示出对外来物种入侵的抵抗作用。     

Inferring relationships between native plant diversity and Lonicera japonica in upland forests in north Mississippi,USA

Question: Do anthropogenic disturbances interact with local environmental factors to increase the abundance and frequency of invasive species, which in turn exerts a negative effect on native biodiversity? Location: Mature Quercus‐Carya and Quercus‐Carya‐Pinus (oak‐hickory‐pine) forests in north Mississippi, USA. Methods: We used partial correlation and factor analysis to investigate relationships between native ground cover plant species richness and composition, percent cover of Lonicera japonica, and local and landscape‐level environmental variables and disturbance patterns in mature upland forests. We directly measured vegetation and environmental variables within 34 sampling subplots and quantified the amount of tree cover surrounding our plots using digital color aerial photography. Results: Simple bivariate correlations revealed that high species richness and a high proportion of herbs were associated with low Lonicera japonica cover, moist and sandy uncompacted soils, low disturbance in the surrounding landscape, and periodic prescribed burning. Partial correlations and factor analysis showed that once we accounted for the environmental factors, L japonica cover was the least important predictor of composition and among the least important predictors of species richness. Hence, much of the negative correlation between native species diversity and this invasive species was explained by soil texture and local and landscape‐level land‐use practices. Conclusions: We conclude that negative correlations between the abundance of invasive species and native plant diversity can occur in landscapes with a gradient of human disturbance, regardless of whether there is any negative effect of invasive species on native species.     

Effects of natural and anthropogenic gradients on native and exotic winter annuals in a southern California Desert

Native annual plant species constitute a large proportion of the plant diversity found in arid vegetation types within the southwestern United States; yet, little is known about controls on diversity patterns along natural and anthropogenic gradients. In this study we evaluated native species richness and exotic species cover across overlapping gradients of precipitation, wind, and N deposition in the Colorado Desert of southern California. Factors allowing native diversity to persist under high N deposition and high wind were also evaluated in a second, focused study at one end of the gradient. We found that gradients in precipitation, nitrogen deposition, and wind were the most important factors to native richness and exotic species cover across the landscape, while local heterogeneity in bare ground influenced richness and cover at the high deposition/windy, or high-disturbance, end of the gradient. Patterns of native diversity were evaluated across the gradients using non-metric multidimensional scaling, which showed diversity was split into two axes: one strongly correlated to precipitation and the other strongly correlated with disturbance factors. The disturbance factors were also positively associated with exotic grass and forb cover. In total, these results indicate that large-scale patterns in disturbance and exotic species cover negatively affect native annual plant species diversity but native species can also persist due to local heterogeneity.     

Disturbance, Herbivory, and Propagule Dispersal Control Dominance of an Invasive Grass

Despite the dramatic changes invasive plants cause to ecosystems and communities, factors that control dominance of invasive species after establishment in a community are poorly understood. Most active management relies on catastrophic disturbances of invasive-dominated communities to increase richness and diversity of plant communities. This study examines the importance of propagule dispersal and deer herbivory on continued dominance of Phalaris arundinacea after a non-catastrophic, short-term disturbance to monotypic stands of this invasive grass. The disturbance caused no change in P. arundinacea cover among treatments during any year of the study and, thus, simulates disturbance intensity more likely to be encountered in unmanaged settings. Despite the small disturbance, the combinations of disturbance + seeding and disturbance + seeding + deer exclusion caused greater species richness than controls even three years after disturbance. Increased invasion of P. arundinacea stands caused few effects on the dominant, as P. arundinacea biomass was unaffected after the first year. Selective herbivory by deer of species other than P. arundinacea increased the effects of disturbance and seeding, and aided in continued dominance of the grass. The tolerance of P. arundinacea for direct anthropogenic effects, including poor water quality and hydroperiod fluctuations, and indirect effects, such as increased herbivory by historically high deer populations, indicates the complexity of determining persistence of invasive species.     

Environmentally‐contingent behaviour of invasive plants as drivers or passengers

Invasive plants are often regarded as drivers that actively reduce diversity and alter ecosystem processes such as succession. Alternatively, invaders may be passengers that simply colonize openings produced by anthropogenic disturbance and are present only temporarily. Here we test whether the behaviour of invasive species as drivers or passengers is contingent on disturbance and nutrient availability. We created twelve experimental environments (three levels of annual disturbance × four levels of nitrogen availability) for 18 years in a grassland at the northern edge of the North American Great Plains. Out of 19 invasive species initially present, two perennials (Bromus inermis, a grass, and Cirsium arvense, a forb) acted as drivers, maintaining or increasing dominance, maintaining low species richness, and forming an invader‐ dominated successional sequence. Behaviour as drivers was environmentally contingent: Bromus behaved as a driver only in less disturbed environments, and the tendency of Cirsium to behave as a driver increased significantly with both disturbance and nitrogen availability. Most invasive species (90%), however, consistently behaved as passengers, disappearing or becoming rare. The importance of disturbance and fertility for starting invasions is well‐known, but our study shows that these factors also contribute to the behaviour of some invaders as drivers. The emergence of drivers and invader‐dominated successional sequences suggests that, as rates of invasion, disturbance and eutrophication continue to increase with human activity, invasive species that act as drivers may form low‐diversity communities that persist for decades.     

Shrubs as ecosystem engineers across an environmental gradient: effects on species richness and exotic plant invasion

Ecosystem-engineering plants modify the physical environment and can increase species diversity and exotic species invasion. At the individual level, the effects of ecosystem engineers on other plants often become more positive in stressful environments. In this study, we investigated whether the community-level effects of ecosystem engineers also become stronger in more stressful environments. Using comparative and experimental approaches, we assessed the ability of a native shrub (Ericameria ericoides) to act as an ecosystem engineer across a stress gradient in a coastal dune in northern California, USA. We found increased coarse organic matter and lower wind speeds within shrub patches. Growth of a dominant invasive grass (Bromus diandrus) was facilitated both by aboveground shrub biomass and by growing in soil taken from shrub patches. Experimental removal of shrubs negatively affected species most associated with shrubs and positively affected species most often found outside of shrubs. Counter to the stress-gradient hypothesis, the effects of shrubs on the physical environment and individual plant growth did not increase across the established stress gradient at this site. At the community level, shrub patches increased beta diversity, and contained greater rarified richness and exotic plant cover than shrub-free patches. Shrub effects on rarified richness increased with environmental stress, but effects on exotic cover and beta diversity did not. Our study provides evidence for the community-level effects of shrubs as ecosystem engineers in this system, but shows that these effects do not necessarily become stronger in more stressful environments.     

Fire frequency and tree canopy structure influence plant species diversity in a forest-grassland ecotone

Disturbances and environmental heterogeneity are two factors thought to influence plant species diversity, but their effects are still poorly understood in many ecosystems. We surveyed understory vegetation and measured tree canopy cover on permanent plots spanning an experimental fire frequency gradient to test fire frequency and tree canopy effects on plant species richness and community heterogeneity within a mosaic of grassland, oak savanna, oak woodland, and forest communities. Species richness was assessed for all vascular plant species and for three plant functional groups: grasses, forbs, and woody plants. Understory species richness and community heterogeneity were maximized at biennial fire frequencies, consistent with predictions of the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. However, overstory tree species richness was highest in unburned units and declined with increasing fire frequency. Maximum species richness was observed in unburned units for woody species, with biennial fires for forbs, and with near-annual fires for grasses. Savannas and woodlands with intermediate and spatially variable tree canopy cover had greater species richness and community heterogeneity than old-field grasslands or closed-canopy forests. Functional group species richness was positively correlated with functional group cover. Our results suggest that annual to biennial fire frequencies prevent shrubs and trees from competitively excluding grasses and prairie forbs, while spatially variable shading from overstory trees reduces grass dominance and provides a wider range of habitat conditions. Hence, high species richness in savannas is due to both high sample point species richness and high community heterogeneity among sample points, which are maintained by intermediate fire frequencies and variable tree canopy cover.     

The effect of fire interval on post‐fire understorey communities in Yellowstone National Park

Questions: How does the time interval between subsequent stand‐replacing fire events affect post‐fire understorey cover and composition following the recent event? How important is fire interval relative to broad‐ or local‐scale environmental variability in structuring post‐fire understorey communities? Location: Subalpine plateaus of Yellowstone National Park (USA) that burned in 1988. Methods: In 2000, we sampled understorey cover and Pinus contorta density in pairs of 12–yr old stands at 25 locations. In each pair, the previous fire interval was either short (7–100 yr) or long (100–395 yr). We analysed variation in understorey species richness, total cover, and cover of functional groups both between site pairs (using paired t‐tests) and across sites that experienced the short fire intervals (using regression and ordination). We regressed three principal components to assess the relative importance of disturbance and broad or local environmental variability on post‐fire understorey cover and richness. Results: Between paired plots, annuals were less abundant and fire‐intolerant species (mostly slow‐growing shrubs) were more abundant following long intervals between prior fires. However, mean total cover and richness did not vary between paired interval classes. Across a gradient of fire intervals ranging from 7–100 yr, total cover, species richness, and the cover of annuals and nitrogen‐fixing species all declined while the abundance of shrubs and fire‐intolerant species increased. The few exotics showed no response to fire interval. Across all sites, broad‐scale variability related to elevation influenced total cover and richness more than fire interval. Conclusions: Significant variation in fire intervals had only minor effects on post‐fire understorey communities following the 1988 fires in Yellowstone National Park.     

Invasion of natural and agricultural cranberry bogs by introduced and native plants

Plant species invasions, i.e., the entry of additional plant species into a habitat with negative effects on species already there, are a major ecological problem in natural habitats and a major economic problem in agricultural habitats. Nutrient availability, disturbance, and proximity to other habitats are likely factors that may interact to control invasion in both types of habitat. We hypothesized (1) that elevated nutrient availability can promote the abundance of introduced species even when high cover of the existing plant community is maintained, and (2) that higher levels of invasion on the edges than in the interiors of habitats are due to differences in resource availability between edges and interiors. To test these hypotheses, we measured soil characteristics and the abundances of plant species in natural and agricultural cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) bogs in southeastern Massachusetts. Contrary to the first hypothesis, agricultural bogs did not have higher cover or richness of introduced species than natural bogs, despite having higher levels of soil nutrients. Contrary to the second hypothesis, the edges of both agricultural and natural bogs had a higher cover and richness of introduced species than the interiors, even though only natural bogs showed differences in resource availabilities between edges and interiors. Results suggest that having a high cover of existing species can counter positive effects of elevated nutrients on the spread of introduced and non-crop species. However, maintaining similar resource availabilities on the edges and interiors of habitats may not prevent greater invasion of edges. Avoiding disturbances to natural communities, maintaining high crop cover, and focusing active control of introduced or non-crop species on the edges of habitats could help limit plant invasions into natural and agricultural habitats alike.     

Shifts in dominance of native and invasive plants in experimental patches of vegetation

While it is widely accepted that disturbance often promotes the process of plant invasion, few data are available on specific relationships between different types of disturbance and success of plant invaders. Nor is much known about variation in invader behaviour in response to changing composition of the dominant native species in the recipient habitats. In the middle Main valley near Würzburg (Germany), two invasive Brassicaceae forbs, Bunias orientalis and Rorippa austriaca, are frequently associated with a small number of dominant native species in the herbaceous vegetation of productive, disturbed sites. Variation in the relative dominance of these species suggests high variability between sites in the factors influencing the local invasion process. In our study, we examined variation in regeneration mode, type and frequency of disturbance, and native species composition, and considered life history differences between the two invasive species as factors contributing to the distinct dominance patterns. These factors were tested in a controlled field experiment in which individuals of the two invasive species and four native species were grown in mixed stands for almost 3 years. The development of the plants was monitored by cover values and all plants were harvested at the end of the study. All factors investigated contributed considerably to the development of distinct dominance patterns in the species mixtures. Relative to the natives, both invasive species were promoted by regeneration from vegetative fragments as compared to development from sexual offspring. While both invasive species were generally promoted by disturbance relative to the natives, they differed in their response to distinct types of disturbance, and these differences were strongly affected by species composition. Our results indicate that invasion success of R. austriaca may depend more on soil disturbance, soil transport and deposition, while B. orientalis is expected to particularly expand at mown sites that do not have dense cover by meadow grasses. Whether the native resident vegetation is mainly composed of successional competitors that suffer from disturbance or of ruderal competitors that compete early and strongly with the invasive species may be of critical importance for invasion by the two species.     

Invasive ants as back-seat drivers of native ant diversity decline in New Caledonia

Biological invasions are typically associated with disturbance, which often makes their impact on biodiversity unclear—biodiversity decline might be driven by disturbance, with the invader just being a ‘passenger’. Alternatively, an invader may act as a ‘back-seat driver’, being facilitated by disturbance that has already caused some biodiversity decline, but then causing further decline. Here we examine the interactive effects of anthropogenic fire and invasive ant species (Anoplolepis gracilipes or Wasmannia auropunctata) on native ant diversity in New Caledonia, a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot. We first examined native ant diversity at nine paired burnt and unburnt sites, with four pairs invaded by Anoplolepis, 5 years after an extensive fire. In the absence of invasion, native epigaeic ants were resilient to fire, but native ant richness and the abundance of Forest Opportunists were markedly lower in invaded burnt sites. Second, we examined native ant diversity along successional gradients from human-derived savanna to natural rainforest in the long-term absence of fire, where there was a disconnection between disturbance-mediated variation in microhabitat and the abundance of the disturbance specialist Wasmannia. All native ant diversity responses (total abundance, richness, species composition, functional group richness and the abundance of Forest Opportunists) declined independently of microhabitat variables but in direct association with high Wasmannia abundance. Our results indicate that invasive ants are acting as back-seat drivers of biodiversity decline in New Caledonia, with invasion facilitated by disturbance but then causing further biodiversity decline.     

Invasive alien plant species in China: regional distribution patterns

Plant invasions have been attracting increasing attention from ecologists because of their worldwide environmental impacts and huge economic costs. Research on the characteristics of the recipient regions is essential for understanding the process of plant invasion. However, few previous studies on invasibility of habitats include social factors, although human activities are critical in the process of plant invasion. China is a vast country with high plant species diversity and a long history of introduction of exotic plant species and is particularly vulnerable to invasive plant species. Alien plant species are widespread in the country. Therefore, the study of invasive plants in China is urgent in practice and theoretically important for developing invasion ecology. For the present study, 126 species were selected to represent the major invasive plant species in China. We then collected data on their species richness in 31 provincial administrative units of China and performed Spearman rank correlations between species richness and possible natural and socio‐economic factors. We found that socio‐economic factors, such as human density and GDP, correlated positively with the species richness of invasive plants in China. In conjunction with the natural and socio‐economic correlations in the study of regional distribution pattern of the major invasive plants, we discussed the factors influencing the regional distribution pattern of the major invasive plants in China. We suggest that native plant species richness was mainly determined by the natural conditions of the regions, while invasive species richness was influenced by natural conditions and human disturbance together.     

Effects of elevated nitrogen and exotic plant invasion on soil seed bank composition in Joshua Tree National Park

We investigated the effects of exotic species invasion and 3?years of nitrogen (N) fertilization on the soil seed bank in Joshua Tree National Park, California, USA at four sites along an N deposition gradient. We compared seed bank composition and density in control (no N added) and fertilized (30?kg?N?ha^?1?year^?1) plots to determine if the seed bank would reflect aboveground changes due to N fertilization. Soil samples were collected and germinated in a greenhouse over 2?years. In the field, invasive species cover responded positively to N fertilization. However, we did not observe increased seed density of exotic invasive species in fertilized plots. While no significant differences were detected between treatments within sites, exotic invasive grass seeds overwhelmed the seed bank at all sites. Significant differences between sites were found, which may be due to differences in level of invasion, historic N deposition, and soil surface roughness. Sites experiencing low N deposition had the highest seed bank species richness for both control and fertilized treatments. Aboveground plant density did not correlate well with seed bank density, possibly due to the inherent patchiness of soil seed banks and differential ability of species to form seed banks. This seed bank study provided insight into site-specific impacts on native versus invasive species composition of soil seed banks, as well as magnitude of invasion and restoration potential at invaded sites.     

Diversity of zonal páramo plant communities in Ecuador

Patterns of vascular plant species diversity in high‐altitude Ecuadorian ecosystems (‘páramos’) are examined. Data from two independent surveys were used: the first from 12 different locations and 192 samples, the other from 18 locations and 243 samples. These surveys included 348 and 284 species, respectively. The data confirmed the occurrence of two main zones in terms of vascular plant species diversity. The grass páramo and superpáramo were distinguished by differences in plant cover, species richness, α‐diversity and β‐diversity. The transition between these two zones begins at around 4000 m. Grass páramo samples comprised more species but the strong dominance of tussock grasses resulted in low equitability compared with the superpáramo, where safe sites for plant survival are limited and the environment does not permit continuous grass cover. Turnover of species across the altitudinal gradient is higher in the grass páramo than in the superpáramo. This is due largely to agricultural fires at lower altitudes, which create a fine‐scale mosaic of burned patches that enhances variability at this scale. Despite the loss of equitability, intermediate levels of fire disturbance appear to promote species richness within the samples. It is suggested that the complex patterns of páramo diversity in the Ecuadorian Andes are largely the outcome of three interrelated factors: altitude, disturbance and the availability of safe sites at the highest altitudes.     

Sonoran Desert Ecosystem transformation by a C4 grass without the grass/fire cycle

Aim Biological invasions facilitate ecosystem transformation by altering the structure and function, diversity, dominance and disturbance regimes. A classic case is the grass–fire cycle in which grass invasion increases the frequency, scale and/or intensity of wildfires and promotes the continued invasion of invasive grasses. Despite wide acceptance of the grass–fire cycle, questions linger about the relative roles that interspecific plant competition and fire play in ecosystem transformations. Location Sonoran Desert Arizona Upland of the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona, USA. Methods We measured species cover, density and saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) size structure along gradients of Pennisetum ciliare invasion at 10 unburned/ungrazed P. ciliare patches. Regression models quantified differences in diversity, cover and density with respect to P. ciliare cover, and residence time and a Fisher’s exact test detected demographic changes in saguaro populations. Because P. ciliare may have initially invaded locations that were both more invasible and less diverse, we ran analyses with and without the plots in which initial infestations were located. Results Richness and diversity decreased with P. ciliare cover as did cover and density of most dominant species. Richness and diversity declined with increasing time since invasion, suggesting an ongoing transformation. The proportion of old‐to‐young Carnegiea gigantea was significantly lower in plots with dominant P. ciliare cover. Main conclusions Rich desert scrub (15–25 species per plot) was transformed into depauperate grassland (2–5 species per plot) within 20 years following P. ciliare invasion without changes to the fire regime. While the onset of a grass–fire cycle may drive ecosystem change in the later stages and larger scales of grass invasions of arid lands, competition by P. ciliare can drive small‐scale transformations earlier in the invasion. Linking competition‐induced transformation rates with spatially explicit models of spread may be necessary for predicting landscape‐level impacts on ecosystem processes in advance of a grass–fire cycle.     

Plant functional traits capture species richness variations along a flooding gradient

Local species coexistence is the outcome of abiotic and biotic filtering processes which sort species according to their trait values. However, the capacity of trait‐based approaches to predict the variation in realized species richness remains to be investigated. In this study, we asked whether a limited number of plant functional traits, related to the leaf‐height‐seed strategy scheme and averaged at the community level, is able to predict the variation in species richness over a flooding disturbance gradient. We further investigated how these mean community traits are able to quantify the strength of abiotic and biotic processes involved in the disturbance–productivity–diversity relationship. We thus tested the proposal that the deviation between the fundamental species richness, assessed from ecological niche‐based models, and realized species richness, i.e. field‐observed richness, is controlled by species interactions. Flooding regime was determined using a detailed hydrological model. A precise vegetation sampling was performed across 222 quadrats located throughout the flooding gradient. Three core functional traits were considered: specific leaf area (SLA), plant height and seed mass. Species richness showed a hump‐shaped response to disturbance and productivity, but was better predicted by only two mean community traits: SLA and height. On the one hand, community SLA that increased with flooding, controlled the disturbance‐diversity relationship through habitat filtering. On the other hand, species interactions, the strength of which was captured by community height values, played a strong consistent role throughout the disturbance gradient by reducing the local species richness. Our study highlights that a limited number of simple, quantitative, easily measurable functional traits can capture the variation in plant species richness at a local scale and provides a promising quantification of key community assembly mechanisms.     

Local and landscape correlates of non‐native species invasion in restored wetlands

Vulnerability of natural communities to invasion by non‐native plants has been linked to factors such as recent disturbance and high resource availability, suggesting that recently restored habitats may be especially invasible. Because non‐native plants can interfere with restoration goals, monitoring programs should anticipate which sites are most susceptible to invasion and which species are likely to become problematic at a site. Restored sites of larger area and those with high rates of propagule input should have higher species richness of both natives and non‐natives, leading to a positive correlation between the two. However, in restored wetlands, urbanization, riparian landscape settings, and nitrogen enrichment likely favor non‐native relative to native species. We sampled 28 restored wetlands in Illinois, USA, modeled the responses of native richness, non‐native richness and non‐native cover to local and landscape predictors with linear regression, and modeled the presence/absence of 21 non‐native species with logistic regressions. Unexpectedly, native and non‐native richness were uncorrelated, suggesting different responses to environmental factors. Native richness declined with increasing available soil nitrogen and urbanization in the surrounding landscape. Non‐native richness, the richness of non‐natives relative to natives, and the likelihood of invasion by several individual invasive species decreased with increasing distance from the city of Chicago, likely in response to decreasing non‐native propagule pressure. Total cover of non‐natives, however, as well as cover by non‐native Phalaris arundinacea, increased with nitrogen availability. Our results indicate that although non‐native richness was better predicted by factors related to propagule pressure, non‐native species dominance was more closely related to local abiotic factors. Non‐native richness in restoration sites may be beyond the control of restoration practitioners, and furthermore, may be of limited relevance for conservation goals. In contrast, limiting the relative dominance of non‐natives should be a restoration priority and may be achievable through management of nutrient availability.     

Resource availability and plant diversity explain patterns of invasion of an exotic grass

Aims In this study, we examine two common invasion biology hypotheses—biotic resistance and fluctuating resource availability—to explain the patterns of invasion of an invasive grass, Microstegium vimineum.Methods We used 13-year-old deer exclosures in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA, to examine how chronic disturbance by deer browsing affects available resources, plant diversity, and invasion in an understory plant community. Using two replicate 1 m 2 plots in each deer browsed and unbrowsed area, we recorded each plant species present, the abundance per species, and the fractional percent cover of vegetation by the cover classes: herbaceous, woody, and graminoid. For each sample plot, we also estimated overstory canopy cover, soil moisture, total soil carbon and nitrogen, and soil pH as a measure of abiotic differences between plots.Important findings We found that plant community composition between chronically browsed and unbrowsed plots differed markedly. Plant diversity was 40% lower in browsed than in unbrowsed plots. At our sites, diversity explained 48% and woody plant cover 35% of the variation in M. vimineum abundance. In addition, we found 3.3 times less M. vimineum in the unbrowsed plots due to higher woody plant cover and plant diversity than in the browsed plots. A parsimonious explanation of these results indicate that disturbances such as herbivory may elicit multiple conditions, namely releasing available resources such as open space, light, and decreasing plant diversity, which may facilitate the proliferation of an invasive species. Finally, by testing two different hypotheses, this study addresses more recent calls to incorporate multiple hypotheses into research attempting to explain plant invasion.