Developing a macroecological understanding of invasive plant impacts based on abundance and trait data Active

Understanding invasive plant impacts can provide insight into community assembly and inform the development of successful management strategies. The impacts of invasive species depend on how they alter patterns of abundance within recipient communities and on the characteristics of the invaders and the affected species. Research has suggested that common species may be more impacted by invasions, and that similarity between native and invasive species underlies impact. To assess large-scale patterns of invasive plant impact, we are bringing together plant community data from 75,000 plots across natural areas of the U.S. with information on plant functional traits and evolutionary history. Functional traits are characteristics of an organism that influence its responses to the environment and its effects on ecological processes. Functional traits mediate the success of an invasion, the impacts on other species, and the consequences for ecosystem function. Our macroecological synthesis will leverage our data compilation to ask: 1) do invasive species disproportionately reduce the abundance of common and functionally similar native species?; 2) how do invasions shift trait distributions within communities?; and 3) how do invasions underlie biotic homogenization of species composition, functional traits, and phylogenetic diversity? By increasing our understanding of the roles of abundance and functional traits in invasions, our work will advance ecological theory and inform management decisions.



Principal Investigator(s):

Helen Sofaer (USGS - Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center)

Ian Pearse (USGS - Fort Collins Science Center)

Bethany Bradley (University of Massachusetts)