Herbivore accumulation on invasive alien plants increases the distribution range of generalist herbivorous insects and supports proliferation of non-native insect pests

Biogeographical comparison of terrestrial invertebrates and trophic feeding guilds in the native and invasive ranges of Carpobrotus edulis

“…Some authors have noted that introduced plants may induce a negative effect on the arthropod communities (Procheş et al 2008;Dibble et al 2013;Van der Colff et al 2015;Maoela et al 2016). However, this does not seem to be the case for C. edulis (Rodríguez et al 2019). Although C. edulis clearly has negative impacts on native ecosystems in the Iberian Peninsula (Novoa et al 2012;Novoa et al 2013), our results show an increase in terms of invertebrate diversity indices.…”

“…The Cape Floristic Region of South Africa is recognised as a global biodiversity hotspot (Myers et al 2000). Moreover, it is known that some non-native plants can offer suitable habitat for diverse assemblages of arthropods (Prasad and Hodge 2013;Rodríguez et al 2019). Nevertheless, non-altered areas without introduced plants tend to support more diversity than invaded areas (Bezemer et al 2014;van Hengstum et al 2014).…”

“…However, the opposite patterns were found for the Iberian Peninsula. This can be explained by the fact that few rare non-native species can live exclusively in areas where C. edulis is present in the Iberian Peninsula (Rodríguez et al 2019); this can influence the species estimations due to their low abundance. There is evidence of insect declines in heavily plant-invaded areas (Habel et al 2019;Richard et al 2019), and the effects of invasive plants on recipient communities can be predictable and preventable (Buckley and Catford 2016).…”

“…Its capacity for clonal propagation allows C. edulis to spread horizontally (Roiloa et al 2010;Fenollosa et al 2016), and to form dense monospecific stands that can cover the encircling surface in a few years (D'Antonio and Mahall 1991). This can lead to changes in the dynamics of the invaded areas by replacing local flora (Novoa et al 2012;Novoa et al 2013) and altering the invertebrate communities (Bartomeus et al 2008;Rodríguez et al 2019). Carpobrotus edulis represents a severe threat for the conservation of coastal ecosystems in the Iberian Peninsula (Campoy et al 2018), and the factors influencing its invasion and its impacts are well documented (Novoa and González 2014;Roiloa et al 2014;Lechuga-Lago et al 2016;Souza-Alonso and González 2017).…”

“…Carpobrotus edulis represents a severe threat for the conservation of coastal ecosystems in the Iberian Peninsula (Campoy et al 2018), and the factors influencing its invasion and its impacts are well documented (Novoa and González 2014;Roiloa et al 2014;Lechuga-Lago et al 2016;Souza-Alonso and González 2017). However, little attention has been given to its influence on the species composition and trophic groups of native invertebrate communities (Rodríguez et al 2019). Moreover, most studies of C. edulis related to invertebrate communities have only targeted the herbivorous feeding guild (Rodríguez et al 2018;Vieites-Blanco et al 2019).…”