Invasive non-native plants have a greater effect on neighbouring natives than other non-natives

Invasive non-native plants have a greater effect on neighbouring natives than other non-natives

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ABSTRACT Human activity is creating a global footprint by changing the climate, altering habitats and reshuffling the distribution of species. The movement of species around the globe has


led to the naturalization and accumulation of multiple non-native species within ecosystems, which is frequently associated with habitat disturbance and changing environmental conditions.


However, interactions among species will also influence community composition, but little is known about the full range of direct and indirect interactions among native and non-native


species. Here, we show through a meta-analysis of 1,215 pairwise plant interactions between 274 vascular plant species in 21 major habitat types that interactions between non-native plants


are asymmetrical with interactions between non-native and native plants. Non-native plants were always bad neighbours, but the negative effect of non-natives on natives was around two times


greater than the effect of non-natives on other non-natives. In contrast, the performance of non-native plants was five times higher in the presence of a neighbouring native plant species


than in the presence of a neighbouring non-native plant species. Together, these results demonstrate that invaded plant communities may accumulate additional non-native species even if


direct interactions between non-natives species are negative. Put another way, invasions may be more likely to lead to more invasions, requiring more active management of ecosystems by


promoting native species restoration to undermine invasive positive feedback and to assist native species recovery in invaded ecosystems. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe


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OTHERS NATIVE DIVERSITY BUFFERS AGAINST SEVERITY OF NON-NATIVE TREE INVASIONS Article Open access 23 August 2023 EXOTIC PLANTS ACCUMULATE AND SHARE HERBIVORES YET DOMINATE COMMUNITIES VIA


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(2004). Article  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank L. Smith, M. Rodriguez-Cabal, D. Maynard and N. Sanders and four anonymous reviewers for comments on previous


versions of the manuscript. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University, 195 Prospect Street, New Haven, 06511, Connecticut,


USA Sara E. Kuebbing * Grupo de Ecologia de Invasiones, INIBIOMA, CONICET, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Quintral 1250, San Carlos de Bariloche CP 8400, Argentina Martin A. Nuñez


Authors * Sara E. Kuebbing View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Martin A. Nuñez View author publications You can also search for this author


inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS S.E.K. and M.A.N. developed the approach and initial idea for the research. S.E.K. extracted and analysed the data, and led the writing of the


manuscript. M.A.N. contributed substantially to the interpretation of the results and to the final version of the manuscript. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Sara E. Kuebbing. ETHICS


DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary Tables 1-3, Supplementary Extended


Data Figures 1-3, Supplementary Equation 1. (PDF 1666 kb) SUPPLEMENTARY EXTENDED DATA FILE. Observation row of data. (CSV 349 kb) METADATA Supplementary Extended Data Column Descriptions.


(XLSX 12 kb) RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Kuebbing, S., Nuñez, M. Invasive non-native plants have a greater effect on neighbouring


natives than other non-natives. _Nature Plants_ 2, 16134 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2016.134 Download citation * Received: 21 April 2016 * Accepted: 09 August 2016 * Published:


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