An assessment of conflict areas between alien and native species richness of terrestrial vertebrates on a macro‐ecological scale in a Mediterranean hotspot

Abstract

Understanding how the diversity of invasive species is geographically distributed and identifying the major drivers of that pattern is a relevant challenge as regards invasion biology. The aim of this paper was, therefore, to identify and characterize those areas colonized by a high number of alien species as a means to provide directional indications that can be used to minimize the potential negative effects that the alien species may have on host ecosystems. This is done by applying spatially explicit predictive modeling in order to explain the diversity of vertebrate alien species in Spain. The relative importance of the different factors was assessed using variation partitioning. Our results showed that the main factor as regards predicting the distribution of alien species was the anthropogenic variable, and that this was followed by abiotic variables. The other significant predictor of alien species was the number of native species, which had a positive relationship with the number of alien species. This accord with the 'the rich get richer' acceptance hypothesis, which predicts a higher number of alien species in areas with high native species diversity. In this study, we detected actual conflict areas (ACAs), which have high-medium values for the number of both native and alien species.

Similar yet distinct distributional patterns characterize native and exotic plant species richness across northern New Zealand islands

“…Positive native–exotic richness relationships are commonly observed across large spatial scales, particularly on islands (Fridley et al, 2007; Sax & Gaines, 2008). Our results are also consistent with previous work indicating that positive native–exotic richness relationships result from both groups of species responding similarly to particular island characteristics (Carpio et al, 2017; Fridley et al, 2007; Long et al, 2009).…”

“…The number of exotic species inhabiting oceanic islands often increases with the number of native species (Carpio et al, 2017; Denslow et al, 2009; Dyer et al, 2016; Lonsdale, 1999; Sax & Gaines, 2008; Seabloom et al, 2007). A variety of mechanisms may promote positive native–exotic richness relationships (Burns, 2016; Fridley et al, 2007; Smith & Côté, 2019).…”

Prioritising potential incursions for contingency planning: pathways, species, and sites in Durban (eThekwini), South Africa as an example

“…Human population, as a result of the associated activities (trade and travel), is one of the main correlates of species introductions into regions outside of their native range (Hulme 2009, Carpio et al 2016, while climate is one of the main limitations to species establishment in these new regions (Rejmánek and Richardson 1996, Welk et al 2002, Robertson et al 2004, Thuiller et al 2006. The methodology used in this study is required to be easily implementable and adjustable to various urban con- Figure 1.…”

Island biogeography of plants and humans

“…The number of exotic species inhabiting oceanic islands often increases with the number of native species (Lonsdale 1999, Sax and Gaines 2008, Denslow et al 2009, Dyer et al 2016, Carpio et al 2017). One explanation is that both groups respond similarly to broad-scale variation in environmental conditions (Fridley et al 2007, Tomasetto et al 2019.…”

“…The number of exotic species inhabiting oceanic islands often increases with the number of native species (Lonsdale 1999, Sax and Gaines 2008, Denslow et al 2009, Dyer et al 2016, Carpio et al 2017. A variety of mechanisms may promote positive native-exotic richness relationships (Fridley et al 2007, Burns 2016b, Smith and Côté 2019.…”