The Ecology and Evolution of Alien Plants

By M. van Kleunen, O. Bossdorf, W. Dawson. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 2018

192 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We review the state of the art of alien plant research with emphasis on conceptual advances and knowledge gains on general patterns and drivers, biotic interactions, and evolution. Major advances include the identification of different invasion stages and invasiveness dimensions (geographic range, habitat specificity, local abundance) and the identification of appropriate comparators while accounting for propagule pressure and year of introduction. Developments in phylogenetic and functional trait research bear great promise for better understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Global patterns are emerging with propagule pressure, disturbance, increased resource availability, and climate matching as major invasion drivers, but species characteristics also play a role. Biotic interactions with resident communities shape invasion outcomes, with major roles for species diversity, enemies, novel weapons, and mutualists. Mounting evidence has been found for rapid evolution of invasive aliens and evolutionary responses of natives, but a mechanistic understanding requires tighter integration of molecular and phenotypic approaches. We hope the open questions identified in this review will stimulate further research on the ecology and evolution of alien plants.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3dec15f9fbe98fb9d9f20a713e6649e2b01a0428

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In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

In Plant Science

Citations in the corpus

Four priority areas to advance invasion science in the face of rapid environmental change (2020, background): “…2018), and the effects of invaders on the evolution of native species, are underexploited, but promising areas of research (Saul and Jeschke 2015; van Kleunen et al. 2018) that point to the importance of integrating evolutionary biology in ways that enhance the predictive power of invasion science.”