Species composition, functional and phylogenetic distances correlate with success of invasiveChromolaena odoratain an experimental test

Abstract

Biotic resistance may influence invasion success; however, the relative roles of species richness, functional or phylogenetic distance in predicting invasion success are not fully understood. We used biomass fraction of Chromolaena odorata, an invasive species in tropical and subtropical areas, as a measure of 'invasion success' in a series of artificial communities varying in species richness. Communities were constructed using species from Mexico (native range) or China (non-native range). We found strong evidence of biotic resistance: species richness and community biomass were negatively related with invasion success; invader biomass was greater in plant communities from China than from Mexico. Harvesting time had a greater effect on invasion success in plant communities from China than on those from Mexico. Functional and phylogenetic distances both correlated with invasion success and more functionally distant communities were more easily invaded. The effects of plant-soil fungi and plant allelochemical interactions on invasion success were species-specific.

Untangling the positive association of phylogenetic, functional, and taxonomic diversity with alien bird species richness

“…The relationship between a community's functional diversity and its invasibility has been studied mainly through small‐scale experimental treatments of plant communities, where more functionally diverse communities inhibit the establishment and growth of alien species (Dukes , Maron and Marler , Zheng et al. ). Our large‐scale observational study results contradict these findings, since high native functional diversity was positively associated with alien species richness.…”

The Effects of Soils from Different Forest Types on the Growth of the Invasive Plant Phytolacca americana

“…As a result, our third hypothesis, late-successional forest soils exhibit stronger allelopathic inhibition to P. americana than early successional soils, was not supported. Thus, differences in the species composition of communities, which leads to species-specific allelopathic effects on invasive species, may be a more promising explanation [8,25,66] than succession.…”

“…Understanding the factors that regulate community invasibility is critical for predicting and controlling plant invasions [3]. Prior studies have shown that successful plant invasions are related to the vegetation characteristics of recipient communities; these characteristics actually affect both the resource availability of habitats and biotic resistance [4][5][6][7][8]. For example, high species diversity sufficiently fills available niches and limits resource supply for invaders, while native species decrease establishment success of invader species that are similar to them in species traits (limiting similarity) [9][10][11].…”

Tests of alternative evolutionary models are needed to enhance our understanding of biological invasions

“…Here, we present new analyses of our previous experimental data (Zheng et al, 2018), incorporating evolutionary models. In a common garden experiment manipulating the composition of resident plant communities, we (Zheng et al, 2018) found that communities with functionally distant close relatives had the greatest invader biomass. This runs counter to the classic assumption that close relatives should be functionally similar (Darwin, 1859).…”

“…Root traits might be Fig. 1 The relationship between phylogenetic and functional distance in an experiment with the invader Chromolaena odorata (Zheng et al, 2018). Distances are calculated from the invader, Chromolaena odorata, for resident species from the native range in Mexico (blue triangles) and the introduced range in China (red circles) (see Supporting Information Notes S1 for Newick formatted phylogeny).…”