Performance Comparisons of Co-Occurring Native and Alien Invasive Plants: Implications for Conservation and Restoration
Top Cited Papers
- 1 November 2003
- journal article
- Published by Annual Reviews in Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics
- Vol. 34 (1), 183-211
- https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.34.011802.132403
Abstract
▪ Abstract In the search to identify factors that make some plant species troublesome invaders, many studies have compared various measures of native and alien invasive plant performance. These comparative studies provide insights into the more general question “Do alien invasive plants usually outperform co-occurring native species, and to what degree does the answer depend on growing conditions?” Based on 79 independent native-invasive plant comparisons, the alien invaders were not statistically more likely to have higher growth rates, competitive ability, or fecundity. Rather, the relative performance of invaders and co-occurring natives often depended on growing conditions. In 94% of 55 comparisons involving more than one growing condition, the native's performance was equal or superior to that of the invader, at least for some key performance measures in some growing conditions. Most commonly, these conditions involved reduced resources (nutrients, light, water) and/or specific disturbance regimes. Independently of growing conditions, invaders were more likely to have higher leaf area and lower tissue construction costs (advantageous under high light and nutrient conditions) and greater phenotypic plasticity (particularly advantageous in disturbed environments where conditions are in frequent flux). There appear to be few “super invaders” that have universal performance advantages over co-occurring natives; rather, increased resource availability and altered disturbance regimes associated with human activities often differentially increase the performance of invaders over that of natives.Keywords
This publication has 100 references indexed in Scilit:
- Ecological responses to recent climate changeNature, 2002
- Experimental support for a resource‐based mechanistic model of invasibilityEcology Letters, 2001
- Invasiveness, invasibility and the role of environmental stress in the spread of non-native plantsPerspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 2000
- Acclimation to sudden increase in light favoring an invasive over native trees in subtropical islands, JapanOecologia, 2000
- Fluctuating resources in plant communities: a general theory of invasibilityJournal of Ecology, 2000
- Naturalization and invasion of alien plants: concepts and definitionsDiversity and Distributions, 2000
- Leaf construction cost, nutrient concentration, and net CO 2 assimilation of native and invasive species in HawaiiOecologia, 1999
- Growth, biomass allocation and photosynthesis of invasive and native Hawaiian rainforest speciesOecologia, 1998
- Native and alien invasive plants: more of the same?Ecography, 1995
- Nutrient and productivity relations of the dune grasses Ammophila arenaria and Elymus mollisOecologia, 1983