The role of phylogenetic relatedness on alien plant success depends on the stage of invasion

Ali Omer (Corresponding author), Trevor Fristoe, Qiang Yang, Mialy Razanajatovo, Patrick Weigelt, Holger Kreft, Wayne Dawson, Stefan Dullinger, Franz Essl, Jan Pergl, Petr Pyšek, Mark van Kleunen

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

Abstract

Darwin’s naturalization hypothesis predicts successful alien invaders to be distantly related to native species, whereas his pre-adaptation hypothesis predicts the opposite. It has been suggested that depending on the invasion stage (that is, introduction, naturalization and invasiveness), both hypotheses, now known as Darwin’s naturalization conundrum, could hold true. We tested this by analysing whether the likelihood of introduction for cultivation, as well as the subsequent stages of naturalization and spread (that is, becoming invasive) of species alien to Southern Africa are correlated with their phylogenetic distance to the native flora of this region. Although species are more likely to be introduced for cultivation if they are distantly related to the native flora, the probability of subsequent naturalization was higher for species closely related to the native flora. Furthermore, the probability of becoming invasive was higher for naturalized species distantly related to the native flora. These results were consistent across three different metrics of phylogenetic distance. Our study reveals that the relationship between phylogenetic distance to the native flora and the success of an alien species changes from one invasion stage to the other.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)906-914
Number of pages9
JournalNature Plants
Volume8
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2022

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 106003 Biodiversity research

Keywords

  • DARWINS NATURALIZATION CONUNDRUM
  • INTRODUCTION HISTORY
  • HYPOTHESIS
  • INVASIVENESS
  • FACILITATION
  • COMPETITION
  • ECOSYSTEMS
  • DIVERSITY
  • EVOLUTION
  • PATTERNS

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