Dominant species establishment may influence invasion resistance more than phylogenetic or functional diversity
Data files
Oct 12, 2023 version files 271.21 KB
-
MeasuredTraits.csv
-
PlotBiomass.csv
-
README.md
Abstract
- Phylogenetic and functional diversity are theorized to increase invasion resistance. Experimentally testing whether plant communities higher in these components of diversity are less invasible is an important step for guiding restoration designs.
- To investigate how phylogenetic and functional diversity of vegetation affect invasion resistance in a restoration setting, we used experimental prairie restoration plots. The experiment crossed three levels of phylogenetic diversity with two levels of functional diversity while species richness was held constant. We allowed invaders to colonize plots; these included native species from neighboring plots and non-native invasive species from a surrounding old field. We tested if invader biomass was influenced by phylogenetic and functional diversity, and phylogenetic and hierarchical trait distances between invaders and planted species. We binned each invader into three categories: native species from neighboring experimental plots (site-specific invaders); native species not part of the experimental species pool (native invaders); or non-native species (non-native invaders).
- Counter to expectation, both non-native and native invaders became more abundant in more phylogenetically diverse plots. However, plots with higher abundance of planted Asteraceae, a dominant family of the tallgrass prairie, had lower invader biomass for both native and non-native invaders.
- We also found that hierarchical trait differences shaped invasion. The species that became most abundant were non-native invaders that were taller, and native invaders with low specific leaf area relative to planted species. Site-specific invaders were not influenced by any plot-level diversity metrics tested.
- Synthesis and application: Our results suggest greater phylogenetic diversity may lower resistance to invasion. This effect may be due to more even but sparser niche packing in high-diversity plots, associated with greater availability of unsaturated niche space for colonization. However, trait composition fostered invasion resistance in two ways in our study. First, establishment of native species with strongly dominant traits may confer invasion resistance. Second, species mixes that optimize trait differences between planted vegetation and likely invaders may enhance invasion-resistance.
README: Neither phylogenetic nor functional diversity increase invasion resistance in an experimental grassland restoration
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4j0zpc8jq
We established an experimental prairie restoration with 72 plots established from seed. We studied these plots over three years and collected biomass from each plot to understand invasion dynamics. We also collected trait data from the experiment to fill in gaps for species which were missing trait values in existing databases.
Description of the data and file structure
MeasuredTraits.csv
This file contains height and specific leaf area data collected as part of this experiment.
1. Species - species name
2. Trait - which trait was measured (either height or specific leaf area)
3. Trait Value - the trait value measured
4. Unit - the unit used for trait measurement
PlotBiomass.csv
This file contains the biomass of each species in each plot, the category of invader can be determined by looking at the last three columns
1. Plot - plot number - the unique idenitfying number assigned to each plot within this experiment
2. Species - species name
3. Month - the month the biomass was collected
4. Year - the year the biomass was collected
5. Biomass - biomass in grams
5. Planted - indicates whether the species was planted into that specific plot. "planted" indicates it was\, "not" indicates it was not planted
6. SiteSpp - indicates whether the species was among the 127 experimental species - "planted" indicates it was\, "not" indicates it was not planted
7. Native - indicates the origin of the species\, N - indicates native\, NN - indicates non-native
Sharing/Access information
This is a section for linking to other ways to access the data, and for linking to sources the data is derived from, if any.
Data was derived from the following sources:
- https://www.sciencecollections.org/
- https://www.try-db.org/
- https://bien.nceas.ucsb.edu/bien/