Global study of plant-herbivore interactions reveals similar patterns of herbivory across native and non-native plants
Data files
Jul 22, 2025 version files 329.55 KB
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01_HV_Native_status_Load_data_and_build_tree.R
2.80 KB
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02_HV_Native_status__Bayesian_Regression_Models.R
26.44 KB
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03_HV_Native_status_Bayesian_Regression_Models_2RangesSpecies.R
24.20 KB
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HV_Native_status_data_survey_level.csv
239.20 KB
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HV_Native_status_NonNatives_time_data.csv
29.29 KB
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README.md
7.63 KB
Abstract
A core hypothesis in invasion and community ecology is that species interaction patterns should differ between native and non-native species due to non-native species lacking a long evolutionary history in their resident communities. Numerous studies testing this hypothesis yield conflicting results, often focusing on mean interaction rates and overlooking the substantial within-population variability in species interactions. We explored plant-herbivore interactions in populations of native and established non-native plant species by quantifying differences in mean herbivory and added a novel approach by comparing within-population variability in herbivory. We include as covariates latitude, plant richness, plant growth form, and cover. Using leaf herbivory data from the Herbivory Variability Network for 788 plant populations spanning 504 species globally distributed, we found no overall differences in mean herbivory or variability between native and non-native plants. These results suggest native and established non-native plants interact similarly with herbivores, indicating non-native status is not a strong predictor of ecological roles.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2jm63xt1w
Description of the data and file structure
These datasets and set of scripts were produced using data collected by The Herbivory Variability Network. We used the data and scripts to perform a global comparison of plant-herbivore interactions between populations of native and non-native species using 788 surveys of 504 plant species. We include as covariates latitude, plant richness, plant growth form and cover to test for the effect of environmental factors in plant-herbivore interactions for both groups of plants.
The website of the network is herbvar.org.
Files and variables
File: 01_HV_Native_status_Load_data_and_build_tree.R
Description: Loads the data files, builds the phylogenetic tree, and sets priors for all beta models
File: 02_HV_Native_status__Bayesian_Regression_Models.R
Description: Models global patterns in herbivory means and the Gini coefficient, including the effect of plant status and the environmental covariates. It also include a model testing for the effect of introduction time for non-native species.
File: 03_HV_Native_status_Bayesian_Regression_Models_2RangesSpecies.R
Description: Models patterns in herbivory means and the Gini coefficient, including the effect of plant status and environmental covariates for 10 plant species with populations in their native and in their introduced ranges.
File: HV_Native_status_NonNatives_time_data.csv
Description: Dataset for the populations of non-native plant species including information on the introduction time.
Variables
- surveyID: ID for the population survey
- SpsCoords: ID for the population survey, including species name, country and status where it was sampled
- Lat: The latitude of the survey site
- species: Genus and species of the plant surveyed
- plantMean: The mean percent herbivory in the survey (%)
- plantMeanProp: The mean proportion herbivory in the survey
- plantMeanPropLogit: The logit mean proportion herbivory in the survey
- plantGini: The Gini coefficient of herbivory in the survey
- plantGiniAdj: The adjusted Gini coefficient of herbivory in the survey (see methods)
- plantGiniAdjLogit: The logit adjusted Gini coefficient of herbivory in the survey (see methods)
- MinYear: The earliest year the non-native species was reported in the sampled region
File: HV_Native_status_data_survey_level.csv
Description: Global database with data for 788 native and non-native plant populations of 504 plant speceis
Variables
- surveyID: ID for the population survey
- SpsCoords: ID for the population survey, including species name, country and status where it was sampled
- Lat: The latitude of the survey site
- Lat_abs: The absolute value of the latitude of the survey site (decimal degrees)
- Lat_abs_scale: The scaled absolute value of the latitude of the survey site (decimal degrees)
- Genus_sp: Genus and species of the plant surveyed
- species: Genus and species of the plant surveyed
- plantFamily: Taxonomic family of the plant species
- plantMean: The mean percent herbivory in the survey (%)
- plantMeanProp: The mean proportion herbivory in the survey
- plantMeanPropLogit: The logit mean proportion herbivory in the survey
- plantGini: The Gini coefficient of herbivory in the survey
- plantGiniAdj: The adjusted Gini coefficient of herbivory in the survey (see methods)
- plantGiniAdjLogit: The logit adjusted Gini coefficient of herbivory in the survey (see methods)
- focalPlantCoverMean: The average cover of the focal plant species within the survey
- W_NW: Species growth form: Woody or non woody
- nativeStatus: The plant status where the population was sampled: native or exotic
- Naturalized_Status: The plant naturalization status where the population was sampled: naturalized or not naturalized
- Invasive_Status: The plant invasive status where the population was sampled: invasive or not invasive
- Diversity100: Plant species richness (estimated number of plant species per 100m2) for the study site, obtained from sPlot
- Diversity100allProp: The adjusted plant species richness
- Diversity100allPropLogit: The logit adjusted plant species richness
Code/software
We include three R scripts that were built in R version 4.3.0.
The script "01_HV Native status_Load data and build tree" Loads the data files, builds the phylogenetic tree, and sets priors for all beta models. It includes all the loaded packages needed to run the code and perform the analyses.
The script "02_HV Native status_ Bayesian Regression Models" is to be run after the previous one, it models patterns in herbivory means and the Gini coefficient, including the effect of environmental covariates for the global dataset of 788 populations of 504 plant species.
The script "03_HV Native status_Bayesian Regression Models_2RangesSpecies" is a continuation of the previous two, and it models patterns in herbivory means and the Gini coefficient, including the effect of environmental covariates for the subset of 10 plant species with populations in their native and introduced range.
Access information
Other publicly accessible locations of the data:
- We used data from the Herbivory Variability Network (https://herbvar.org/); the original dataset can be accessed online via GitHub: https://github.com/HerbVar-Network, and it has been published in DRYAD (doi.org/10.5061/dryad.44j0zpckm).
Data was derived from the following sources:
- We extracted plant species richness for our study sites from sPlot (Sabatini et al., 2022).
- We got information on the native, naturalized or invasive status of our populations in the sampling sites from the Plants of the World Online database (POWO, 2024), the Global Naturalized Alien Flora (GloNAF; van Kleunen et al., 2019) and the CABI Digital Library (cabidigitallibrary.org).
- We collected non-native introduction dates by using Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF; gbif.org).
REFERENCES:
POWO (2024). “Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/ Retrieved 30 January 2024.” In “Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/ Retrieved 30 January 2024.”
Sabatini, F. M., Jiménez-Alfaro, B., Jandt, U., Chytrý, M., Field, R., Kessler, M., Lenoir, J., Schrodt, F., Wiser, S. K., Arfin Khan, M. A. S., Attorre, F., Cayuela, L., De Sanctis, M., Dengler, J., Haider, S., Hatim, M. Z., Indreica, A., Jansen, F., Pauchard, A., … Bruelheide, H. (2022). Global patterns of vascular plant alpha diversity. Nature Communications, 13(1), 4683. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32063-z
van Kleunen, M., Pyšek, P., Dawson, W., Essl, F., Kreft, H., Pergl, J., Weigelt, P., Stein, A., Dullinger, S., König, C., Lenzner, B., Maurel, N., Moser, D., Seebens, H., Kartesz, J., Nishino, M., Aleksanyan, A., Ansong, M., Antonova, L. A., … Winter, M. (2019). The Global Naturalized Alien Flora (Glo NAF ) database. Ecology, 100(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2542