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Abstract

This review examines physiological and morphological traits of native and invasive species occurring in environments characterized by low nutrient, water and light availability. Species invading low-resource environments possess traits associated with resource acquisition, resource conservation, or both acquisition and conservation.

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From tropics to tundra: global convergence in plant functioning.

P Reich, M. Walters, D Ellsworth (1997)

Despite striking differences in climate, soils, and evolutionary history among diverse biomes ranging from tropical and temperate forests to alpine tundra and desert, we found similar interspecific relationships among leaf structure and function and plant growth in all biomes. Our results thus demonstrate convergent evolution and global generality in plant functioning, despite the enormous diversity of plant species and biomes. For 280 plant species from two global data sets, we found that potential carbon gain (photosynthesis) and carbon loss (respiration) increase in similar proportion with decreasing leaf life-span, increasing leaf nitrogen concentration, and increasing leaf surface area-to-mass ratio. Productivity of individual plants and of leaves in vegetation canopies also changes in constant proportion to leaf life-span and surface area-to-mass ratio. These global plant functional relationships have significant implications for global scale modeling of vegetation-atmosphere CO2 exchange.

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Restoration through reassembly: plant traits and invasion resistance.

Jennifer Funk, Elsa E. Cleland, Katherine Suding … (2008)

One of the greatest challenges for ecological restoration is to create or reassemble plant communities that are resistant to invasion by exotic species. We examine how concepts pertaining to the assembly of plant communities can be used to strengthen resistance to invasion in restored communities. Community ecology theory predicts that an invasive species will be unlikely to establish if there is a species with similar traits present in the resident community or if available niches are filled. Therefore, successful restoration efforts should select native species with traits similar to likely invaders and include a diversity of functional traits. The success of trait-based approaches to restoration will depend largely on the diversity of invaders, on the strength of environmental factors and on dispersal dynamics of invasive and native species.

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Invasion, competitive dominance, and resource use by exotic and native California grassland species.

E. W. Seabloom, W. Harpole, O. Reichman … (2011)

The dynamics of invasive species may depend on their abilities to compete for resources and exploit disturbances relative to the abilities of native species. We test this hypothesis and explore its implications for the restoration of native ecosystems in one of the most dramatic ecological invasions worldwide, the replacement of native perennial grasses by exotic annual grasses and forbs in 9.2 million hectares of California grasslands. The long-term persistence of these exotic annuals has been thought to imply that the exotics are superior competitors. However, seed-addition experiments in a southern California grassland revealed that native perennial species, which had lower requirements for deep soil water, soil nitrate, and light, were strong competitors, and they markedly depressed the abundance and fecundity of exotic annuals after overcoming recruitment limitations. Native species reinvaded exotic grasslands across experimentally imposed nitrogen, water, and disturbance gradients. Thus, exotic annuals are not superior competitors but rather may dominate because of prior disturbance and the low dispersal abilities and extreme current rarity of native perennials. If our results prove to be general, it may be feasible to restore native California grassland flora to at least parts of its former range.

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Journal

PubMed ID:: 27293610

PMC ID:: 4806624

DOI:: 10.1093/conphys/cot026

License:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Keywords: invasion biology,leaf economics spectrum,resource acquisition,resource conservation,restoration ecology

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Keywords: invasion biology, leaf economics spectrum, resource acquisition, resource conservation, restoration ecology

The physiology of invasive plants in low-resource environments

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Most cited references 49

From tropics to tundra: global convergence in plant functioning.

Restoration through reassembly: plant traits and invasion resistance.

Invasion, competitive dominance, and resource use by exotic and native California grassland species.

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