Potential distribution range of invasive plant species in Spain

By Núria Gassó, Wilfried Thuiller, Joan Pino, M. Vilà. 2012

89 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Success of invasive species has been frequently estimated as the present distribution range size in the introduced region. However, the present distribution range is only a picture of the invasion for a given time step and do not inform on the potential distribution range of the species. Based on niche-based models we used climatic, geographic and landscape information on the present distribution range for 78 major plant invaders in Spain to estimate and map their potential distribution range. We found a positive relationship between present and potential distribution of species. Most of the species have not yet occupied half of their potential distribution range. Sorghum halepense and Amaranthus retroflexus have the widest potential distribution range. Sorghum halepense and Robinia pseudoacacia have the highest relative occupancy (i.e. proportion of potential distribution range currently occupied). Species with a larger minimum residence time have, on average, higher relative occupancy. Our study warns managers that it might be only a matter of time that currently localized invasive species reach their potential area of distribution.

Subfields: Ecological Modeling, Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5f4cb3c420fba97cfa8552d676cfde814834f6d2

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In Ecological Modeling

In Ecology

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

Citations in the corpus

Support for major hypotheses in invasion biology is uneven and declining (2012, background): “The longer the residence time is, the greater the possibility for a species to have fully occupied its potential range in the study area (de Albuquerque et al. 2011b, Gassó et al. 2012).”
Beyond climate: disturbance niche shifts in invasive species (2015, background): “Despite its long history in the Mediterranean Basin, in Spain it only covers 46% of its potential distribution (Gassó et al., 2012).”