A global assessment of invasive plant impacts on resident species, communities and ecosystems: the interaction of impact measures, invading species' traits and environment
Abstract
Based on 287 publications that addressed the impact of 167 invasive plant species, we present the first global overview of frequencies of significant and non-significant ecological impacts and their directions on 15 outcomes related to the responses of resident populations, species, communities and ecosystems. Invasive plants exert consistent significant impacts on some outcomes, whereas for outcomes at the community level, such as species richness, diversity and soil resources, the significance of impacts is determined by interactions between species traits and the biome invaded.
One of the clearest signals in this analysis is that invasive plants are far more likely to cause significant impacts on species richness on islands rather than mainland. There is no universal measure of impact and the pattern observed depends on the ecological measure examined.
Some species traits may provide a means to predict impact, regardless of the particular habitat and geographical region invaded.