Drivers of the relative richness of naturalized and invasive plant species on the Earth

0510408 - BÚ 2020 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Essl, F. - Dawson, W. - Kreft, H. - Pergl, Jan - Pyšek, Petr - van Kleunen, M. - Weigelt, P. - Mang, T. - Dullinger, S. - Lenzner, B. - Moser, D. - Maurel, N. - Seebens, H. - Stein, A. - Weber, E. - Chatelain, C. - Inderjit, Dr. - Genovesi, P. - Kartesz, J. - Morozova, O. - Nishino, M. - Nowak, P. M. - Pagad, S. - Shu, W.-S. - Winter, M.
Drivers of the relative richness of naturalized and invasive plant species on the Earth.
AoB PLANTS. Roč. 11, č. 5 (2019), s. 1-13, č. článku plz051. ISSN 2041-2851. E-ISSN 2041-2851
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GX19-28807X
Institutional support: RVO:67985939
Keywords : drivers * global * plant invasions
OECD category: Ecology
Impact factor: 2.182, year: 2019
Method of publishing: Open access

Biological invasions are a defining feature of the Anthropocene, but the factors that determine the spatially uneven distribution of alien plant species are still poorly understood. We present the first global analysis of the effects of biogeographic factors, the physical environment and socio-economy on the richness of naturalized and invasive alien plants. As measures of the magnitude of permanent anthropogenic additions to the regional species pool and of species with negative environmental impacts, we calculated the relative richness of naturalized (= RRN) and invasive (= RRI) alien plant species numbers adjusted for the number of native species in 838 terrestrial regions. Socio-economic factors (per-capita GDP, population density, proportion of agricultural land) were more important in explaining RRI (~50% of the explained variation) than RRN (~40%). Warm-temperate and (sub)tropical regions have higher RRN than tropical or cooler regions. We found that socio-economic pressures are more relevant for invasive than for naturalized species richness. The expectation that the southern hemisphere is more invaded than the northern hemisphere was confirmed only for RRN on islands, but not for mainland regions nor for RRI. On average, islands have ~six-fold RRN, and more than three-fold RRI compared to mainland regions. Eighty-two islands (=26% of all islands) harbour more naturalized alien than native plants. Our findings challenge the widely held expectation that socio-economic pressures are more relevant for plant naturalization than for invasive plants.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0306282