The incidence of alien species on the taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity of lentic and lotic communities dominated byPhragmites australis(Cav.) Steud

Abstract

This study aims to investigate, for the first time, the multiple diversity harbored in plant communities dominated by P. australis, discriminating between lentic and lotic habitats. We focused on the incidence of alien species on taxonomical, phylogenetic and functional diversity. Although it was hypothesized that ecological differences between habitats (lentic vs. lotic) could lead to plant adaptive trade-offs, results showed that the P. australis dominance affected overall plant diversity in the same way in both target habitats. Similarly, the two compared habitats hosted a similar alien species richness and relative abundance. Different results were observed based on whether the alien species richness or their relative abundance were considered regarding the incidence of alien species. Increasing alien species richness in lentic habitats resulted in increased taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity. Instead, in lotic habitats, it promoted a decrease in taxonomic and functional diversity. In contrast, the increase in the relative abundance of alien species resulted in increased taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity in both habitats. Choosing relative abundance vs richness of aliens in lotic stands can have a different impact in evaluating the effect of aliens on various components of diversity.

Environmental determinants of phylogenetic diversity in vernal pool habitats

“…On the other hand, competitiveness was associated with phylogenetic overdispersion in the native rich communities of the pool bottom and edge, conforming to the 'competitive relatedness hypothesis' initially proposed by Darwin (1859) and later supported in various plant communities (Cavender-Bares et al, 2004. Our findings provide further support that phylogenetic structure can be an outcome of human facilitated introductions (Castellani et al, 2022;Lishawa et al, 2019;Lososová et al, 2016).…”

“…Second, the level of invasion varies across zones‐of‐vegetation (Bauder, 2000 ; Gerhardt & Collinge, 2003 , 2007 ) that may prove amenable for assessing the effect of competition on phylogenetic diversity in vernal pools. Invasive species exert competitive pressure on native plant communities that in turn can lead to altered taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity (Castellani et al., 2022 ; Lishawa et al., 2019 ). In the past four centuries of European colonization into North America, thousands of plant species have been introduced and hundreds have become invasive in their new range (Hierro et al., 2005 ; Pyšek et al., 2015 ).…”

Multidimensional trait variability in a widespread, Paleoarctic macrophyte: functional, spectral and genetic drivers

“…Numerous studies have linked genetic metrics to variation in functional traits to describe trait plasticity or to understand what the evolutionary trajectories of plant adaptation are (García‐Girón et al 2020, Roubeau Dumont et al 2020, Castellani et al 2022, 2023a). Also, there are many examples that combine functional traits and spectral features of plants to assess the effect of environmental conditions and overcome limitations dealing with direct trait measurements across scales (Lausch et al 2016, Kamoske et al 2021, Wang et al 2022).…”