Are Introduced Species Better Dispersers Than Native Species? A Global Comparative Study of Seed Dispersal Distance

Flores‐Moreno, Habacuc; Thomson, Fiona J.; Warton, David I.; Moles, Angela T.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0068541

Cited by 26 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(77 reference statements)

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“…While the invasion of exotic species is often considered to be derived from unique or extreme trait values (Tecco et al 2010, van Kleunen et al 2010, Caplan et al 2014, Lee et al 2017, the successful exotic species in the BSS appear to utilize a subset of the same root trait space occupied by native species rather than any ecologically novel part of that trait space. However, while this study and others identify categorical differences in functional traits between native and exotic plant species, it is important to note that there is substantial variation within each group (Dawson et al 2012a, Flores-Moreno et al 2013); many native species express acquisitive traits and many exotic species express conservative traits, with broad ranges for each.…”

Section: Differences By Originmentioning

confidence: 78%

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Fine‐root traits are linked to species dynamics in a successional plant community

Caplan

Meiners

Flores‐Moreno

et al. 2019

Ecology

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Despite the importance of fine roots for the acquisition of soil resources such as nitrogen and water, the study of linkages between traits and both population and community dynamics remains focused on aboveground traits. We address this gap by investigating associations between belowground traits and metrics of species dynamics. Our analysis included 85 species from a long‐term data set on the transition from old field to forest in eastern North America (the Buell‐Small Succession Study) and the new Fine‐Root Ecology Database. Given the prominent roles of life form (woody vs. non‐woody) and species origin (native vs. exotic) in defining functional relationships, we also assessed whether traits or their relationships with species dynamics differed for these groups. Species that reached their peak abundance early in succession had fine‐root traits corresponding to resource acquisitive strategies (i.e., they were thinner, less dense, and had higher nitrogen concentrations) while species that peaked progressively later had increasingly conservative strategies. In addition to having more acquisitive root traits than native species, exotics diverged from the above successional trend, having consistently thinner fine roots regardless of the community context. Species with more acquisitive fine‐root morphologies typically had faster rates of abundance increase and achieved their maximal rates in fewer years. Decreasing soil nutrient availability and increasing belowground competition may become increasingly strong filters in successional communities, acting on root traits to promote a transition from acquisitive to conservative foraging. However, disturbances that increase light and soil resource availability at local scales may allow acquisitive species, especially invasive exotics, to continue colonizing late into the community transition to forest.

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Section: Differences By Originmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…, Flores‐Moreno et al. ); many native species express acquisitive traits and many exotic species express conservative traits, with broad ranges for each.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fine‐root traits are linked to species dynamics in a successional plant community

Caplan

Meiners

Flores‐Moreno

et al. 2019

Ecology

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“…[16,18]) and process-based studies (e.g. [67]) merits further investigation. That is, invasion ecology needs to rigorously test the relationship between traits proposed to be related to introduced/invasive species and introduced/invasive species’ high performance, specifically in the form of higher survival, higher fecundity and higher competitive ability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the evidence does not always support this view [29,30],, and even if introduced species do have faster germination under wider range of conditions, these advantages do not translate to higher survival through the early stages of recruitment (Figure 1). Introduced species produce as much as 6.7 times more seeds per plant per year than do native species [72], but a compilation of published data found no clear difference in seed dispersal distance between native and introduced species [67]. That is, higher seed production might be the only life history stage where introduced species have a general advantage over native species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparison of the Recruitment Success of Introduced and Native Species Under Natural Conditions

Flores‐Moreno

Moles

2013

PLoS ONE

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It is commonly accepted that introduced species have recruitment advantages over native species. However, this idea has not been widely tested, and those studies that have compared survival of introduced and native species have produced mixed results. We compiled data from the literature on survival through germination (seed to seedling survival), early seedling survival (survival through one week from seedling emergence) and survival to adulthood (survival from germination to first reproduction) under natural conditions for 285 native and 63 introduced species. Contrary to expectations, we found that introduced and native species do not significantly differ in survival through germination, early seedling survival, or survival from germination to first reproduction. These comparisons remained non-significant after accounting for seed mass, longevity and when including a random effect for site. Results remained consistent after excluding naturalized species from the introduced species data set, after performing phylogenetic independent contrasts, and after accounting for the effect of life form (woody/non-woody). Although introduced species sometimes do have advantages over native species (for example, through enemy release, or greater phenotypic plasticity), our findings suggest that the overall advantage conferred by these factors is either counterbalanced by advantages of native species (such as superior adaptation to local conditions) or is simply too small to be detected at a broad scale.

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“…Seed sizes were obtained with permission from the Kew Seed Information Database (Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, ). While seed size is an imperfect proxy for dispersal ability, particularly to the extent that herbivores aid in dispersal, we believe it is a reasonable approximation on empirical (Flores‐Moreno et al ., ) and theoretical grounds (Venable & Brown, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Altitudinal shifts of the native and introduced flora of California in the context of 20th‐century warming

Wolf

Zimmerman

Anderegg

et al. 2016

Global Ecology and Biogeography

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Aim The differential responses of plant species to climate change are of great interest and grave concern for scientists and conservationists. One underexploited resource for better understanding these changes are the records held by herbaria. Using these records to assess the responses of different groups of species across the entire flora of California, we sought to quantify the magnitude of species elevational shifts, to measure differences in shifts among functional groups and between native and introduced species, and to evaluate whether these shifts were related to the conservation of thermal niches. Location California.Methods To characterize these shifts in California, we used 681,609 georeferenced herbarium records to estimate mean shifts in elevational and climatic space of 4426 plant taxa. We developed and employed a statistical method to robustly analyse the data represented in these records. ResultsWe found that 15% of all taxa in California have ranges that have shifted upward over the past century. There are significant differences between range shifts of taxa with different naturalization statuses: 12% of endemic taxa show significant upward range shifts, while a greater proportion (27%) of introduced taxa have shifted upward. We found significant differences between the proportion of significant range shifts across taxa with different seed sizes, but did not find evidence for differences in shift based on life-form (annual versus perennial, herbaceous versus woody).Main conclusions Our analyses suggest that introduced species have disproportionately expanded their ranges upward in elevation over the past century when compared with native species. While these shifts in introduced species may not be exclusively driven by climate, they highlight the importance of considering the interacting factors of climate-driven range shifts and invasion to understand how floras are responding in the face of anthropogenic change.

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Are Introduced Species Better Dispersers Than Native Species? A Global Comparative Study of Seed Dispersal Distance

Cited by 26 publications

References 60 publications

Fine‐root traits are linked to species dynamics in a successional plant community

Fine‐root traits are linked to species dynamics in a successional plant community

A Comparison of the Recruitment Success of Introduced and Native Species Under Natural Conditions

Altitudinal shifts of the native and introduced flora of California in the context of 20th‐century warming

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