Trait filtering during exotic plant invasion of tropical rainforest remnants along a disturbance gradient

Waddell, Emily; Chapman, Daniel S.; Hill, Jane K.; Hughes, Mark; Sailim, Azlin Bin; Tangah, Joseph; Banin, Lindsay F.

doi:10.1111/1365-2435.13679

Cited by 26 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 82 publications

(123 reference statements)

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“…For example, two of the most widespread invaders in the tropics, Miconia crenata (formerly Clidemia hirta) and Lantana camara (Figure 3a-b), are dispersed by frugivores (DeWalt & Hamrick 2004;Ramaswami et al 2016). In line with this fact, Waddell et al (2020b) showed that successful invasion of tropical forests requires adaptations for longdistance dispersal (e.g., by vertebrates) as well as traits related to competitive ability, such as being tall and woody. Thus, for disturbed tropical forests at least, evidence points towards the role of plant-dispersal mutualisms as agents for widespread distributions of non-native plants in forests.…”

Section: ) or Reflective Of Past Human Choices In What Types Of Species They Introduced Into Tropical Versus Temperate Ecosystems (Vanmentioning

confidence: 82%

Are Terrestrial Biological Invasions Different in the Tropics?

Chong

Corlett

Núñez

et al. 2021

Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst.

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Most biological invasion literature—including syntheses and meta-analyses and the resulting theory—is reported from temperate regions, drawing only minimally from the tropics except for some island systems. The lack of attention to invasions in the tropics results from and reinforces the assumption that tropical ecosystems, and especially the continental tropics, are more resistant to invasions. We have critically assessed biological invasions in the tropics and compared them with temperate regions, finding relatively weak evidence that tropical and temperate regions differ in their invasibility and in the traits that determine invader success and impacts. Propagule pressure and the traits that promote adaptation to disturbances (e.g., high fecundity or fast growth rates) are generally favorable to invasions in both tropical and temperate regions. We emphasize the urgent need for greater investment and regional cooperation in the study, prevention, and management of biological invasions in the tropics. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, Volume 52 is November 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Section: ) or Reflective Of Past Human Choices In What Types Of Species They Introduced Into Tropical Versus Temperate Ecosystems (Vanmentioning

confidence: 82%

Are Terrestrial Biological Invasions Different in the Tropics?

Chong

Corlett

Núñez

et al. 2021

Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst.

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“…S3 in supplementary material). This result seems to suggest that more resource-limited environments filter out traits substantially diverging from the locally-adapted native community from this family (Waddell et al 2020).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 79%

Contrasting functional responses of non-native invasive species along a tropical elevation gradient

et al. 2021

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One hypothesized invasion strategy ("try-harder") predicts that invaders exhibit functional traits that are better adjusted to the environment than native species. Alternatively, the "join-the-locals" hypothesis predicts trait convergence between invasive and native species due to environmental filtering with increasing resource limitation. We hypothesized that invasions strategies shift from "try-harder" to "join-the-locals" with increasing elevation. We used an elevational gradient to detect possible trait convergences between alien invaders and native plant species in Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Poaceae. We found a significant trait convergence with elevation only in Asteraceae, suggesting a species-specific pattern, but also an important phenotypic variability of the alien invader. This supports the idea that the more resource-limited the environment, the more it filters out traits substantially diverging from the locally-adapted native community, thereby entailing a shift from "try-harder" to "join-the-locals" strategies. The invasive grass was also more acquisitive but did not exhibit any relation to the native community, supporting the "try-harder" hypothesis. The size of the invasive Fabaceae species decreased with elevation, mirroring the native Fabaceae species, but not the overall native community. Including more replicates and a thorough quantification of environmental conditions, offers a promising avenue for improving the understanding the seemingly idiosyncrasies of invasion pathways.

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“…However, it is worth highlighting that alternative explanations may also explain the observed patterns, or may be acting in tandem with the effects of human foraging (Adnan et al, 2015; Brockerhoff et al, 2017). First, edible and inedible species may have different trait values, especially if traits are linked with edibility (e.g., traits related to tissue density; Lueder et al, 2022; Waddell et al, 2020). If edibility‐related traits also affect dispersal ability or the ability of species to cope with the abiotic environment (as in tissue density traits), then the edible‐inedible comparison may not reflect the effect of humans but that of trait–environment interactions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, while we classified species as edible based on interviews with local villagers, we cannot discount the role of other animal taxa in dispersing the edible species (Teitelbaum & Mueller, 2019). As data on species traits and interaction networks in the study area are not available, we recommend conducting further study involving abiotic factors and functional traits to validate these findings (Lueder et al, 2022; Waddell et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Trends In Dbh Distribution Tree Species Density and Ba Along...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of human foraging on tree diversity, composition, and abundance in a tropical rainforest

et al. 2022

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Tropical forest tree communities are structured by a range of large‐scale drivers including elevation, certain high‐impact anthropogenic activities (e.g., deforestation), and fires. However, low‐impact human activities such as foraging may also be subtly but notably altering the composition of tropical forest tree communities. The study assessed the (i) differences in species diversity, patterns of relative abundance, and pairwise beta diversity between trees with edible and inedible fruits and seeds along an elevation gradient, and (ii) impact of human foraging on the forest tree communities in Oban Division of Cross River National Park, Nigeria. Fifteen permanent 40 by 40 m plots were established along an elevational gradient (120–460 m above mean sea level). All trees of 0.1 m diameter at breast height (dbh) and above were measured, identified, and, with the aid of structured questionnaires, classified into those with edible and inedible fruits/seeds. A total of 35 edible species with density of 128 stems/hectare and basal area of 11.99 m2/hectare, and 109 inedible species with density of 364 stems/hectare and basal area of 22.42 m2/hectare were sampled. However, the evenness of edible and inedible species was similar at pooled and plot levels. For inedible species, there was a positive relationship between pairwise beta diversity and elevation, and this was driven mainly by turnover. In contrast, edible species exhibited a non‐significant trend between elevation and beta diversity. Thus, the study showed that human foraging of edible fruits may have subtly influenced patterns of species diversity and community structure in this tropical forest.

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Trait filtering during exotic plant invasion of tropical rainforest remnants along a disturbance gradient

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 26 publications

References 82 publications

Are Terrestrial Biological Invasions Different in the Tropics?

Are Terrestrial Biological Invasions Different in the Tropics?

Contrasting functional responses of non-native invasive species along a tropical elevation gradient

Impact of human foraging on tree diversity, composition, and abundance in a tropical rainforest

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