Human impact, climate and dispersal strategies determine plant invasion on islands

Aim:

Biological invasions are likely determined by species dispersal strategies as well as environmental characteristics of a recipient region, especially climate and human impact. However, the contribution of climatic factors, human impact and dispersal strategies in driving invasion processes is still controversial and not well embedded in the existing theoretical considerations. Here, we study how climate, species dispersal strategies and human impact determine plant invasion processes on islands distributed in all major oceans in the context of directional ecological filtering.

Location:

Six mountainous, tropical and subtropical islands in three major oceans: Island of Hawai’i and Maui (Pacific), Tenerife and La Palma (Atlantic), La Réunion and Socotra (Indian Ocean).

Taxon:

Vascular Plants.

Methods:

We recorded 360 non-native species in 218 plots along roadside elevational transects covering the major temperature, precipitation and human impact (i.e. road dens...