What it takes to invade grassland ecosystems: traits,introduction history and filtering processes |
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Authors: | Marta Carboni Tamara Münkemüller Sébastien Lavergne Philippe Choler Benjamin Borgy Cyrille Violle Franz Essl Cristina Roquet François Munoz DivGrass Consortium Wilfried Thuiller |
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Affiliation: | 1. Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LECA, Grenoble, France;2. CNRS, LECA, F‐38000, Grenoble, France;3. CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS – Université de Montpellier – Université Paul‐Valéry Montpellier – EPHE –1919 route de Mende, Montpellier, France;4. CESAB/FRB, Domaine du Petit Arbois, Avenue Louis Philibert, Aix‐en‐Provence, France;5. Division of Conservation Biology, Vegetation and Landscape Ecology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria;6. University of Montpellier, UMR AMAP, Montpellier Cedex 05, France;7. French Institute of Pondicherry, Ecology, Pondicherry, India |
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Abstract: | Whether the success of alien species can be explained by their functional or phylogenetic characteristics remains unresolved because of data limitations, scale issues and weak quantifications of success. Using permanent grasslands across France (50 000 vegetation plots, 2000 species, 130 aliens) and building on the Rabinowitz's classification to quantify spread, we showed that phylogenetic and functional similarities to natives were the most important correlates of invasion success compared to intrinsic functional characteristics and introduction history. Results contrasted between spatial scales and components of invasion success. Widespread and common aliens were similar to co‐occurring natives at coarse scales (indicating environmental filtering), but dissimilar at finer scales (indicating local competition). In contrast, regionally widespread but locally rare aliens showed patterns of competitive exclusion already at coarse scale. Quantifying trait differences between aliens and natives and distinguishing the components of invasion success improved our ability to understand and potentially predict alien spread at multiple scales. |
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Keywords: | Alien species functional and phylogenetic similarity invasibility invasion success invasiveness Rabinowitz |
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