Comparing long‑term patterns of spread of native and invasive plants in a successional forest

Authors

Matthew H. Yamamoto, Connecticut College
Chad C. Jones, Connecticut CollegeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-17-2024

Comments

This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-024-05554-7

Abstract

A fundamental question in invasive plant ecology is whether invasive and native plants have different ecological roles. Differences in functional traits have been explored, but we lack a comparison of the factors affecting the spread of co-occurring natives and invasives. Some have proposed that to succeed, invasives would colonize a wider variety of sites, would disperse farther, or would be better at colonizing sites with more available light and soil nutrients than natives. We examined patterns of spread over 70 years in a regenerating forest in Connecticut, USA, where both native and invasive species acted as colonizers. We compared seven invasive and 19 native species in the characteristics of colonized plots, variation in these characteristics, and the importance of site variables for colonization. We found little support for the hypotheses that invasive plants succeed by dispersing farther than native plants or by having a broader range of site tolerances. Colonization by invasives was also not more dependent on light than colonization by natives. Like native understory species, invasive plants spread into closed-canopy forest and species-rich communities despite earlier predictions that these communities would resist invasion. The biggest differences were that soil nitrate and the initial land cover being open field increased the odds of colonization for most invasives but only for some natives. In large part, though, the spread of native and invasive plants was affected by similar factors.

Recommended Citation

Yamamoto, Matthew H. and Jones, Chad C., "Comparing long‑term patterns of spread of native and invasive plants in a successional forest" (2024). Botany Faculty Publications. 10.
https://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/botanyfacpub/10