Print PageBy comparing the attributes of co-occurring native-alien species, invasion biology has tried to identify drivers of introduction success. However, we still do not know how these patterns change across ecological scales. In this work we partitioning the variance in native-alien differentiation across five nested ecological scales (i.e. species within a plot, plots within and location, locations within a habitat, habitats within regions and between regions) using a global database of three key functional traits (specific leaf area, typical maximum canopy height, and specific seed weight).
Results/Conclusions
For all traits variation in the differences between co-occurring native and aliens was mainly at the species level (66 to 94%), while plot, area, locality or regional scales captured the remaining variability (0 to 17%). These results were consistent across alternative contrast criteria (alien to all, the phylogenetic closest or the mean co-occurring native) and comparisons in multi-trait space. Overall, the large variability at the species scale brings substantial support to the idea that local scale dynamics and local niche differences ultimately shape individual invasive species distribution; while the lack of variance at larger scales (plot to region) supports the importance of trait-based environmental filtering on invasive species success. Our results show how the influence of the spatial scale of comparison for understanding the success or failure of alien species invasions.
