Increasing abundance of an invasive C4 grass is associated with larger community changes away than at home

Aim: We evaluated the stands of the invasive grass, Sporobolus cryptandrus in its native North American and non-native European range, where it is a recent invader. Our aim was to reveal how the species’ increasing abundance affects functional diversity and ecosystem service provisioning capacities of plant communities in both ranges.
Location: Sand grasslands in the Kiskunság, Hungary, and in Montana, USA.
Methods: All vascular plant species and their relative abundances were recorded in a stratified random manner in 1m×1m plots in each range, using the following cover categories of Sporobolus as strata: 1–25%, 26–50%, 50–75%, and 75–100%. The functional characteristics of the plant communities of the two continents were compared. We performed the comparisons of the communities both with and without including Sporobolus.
Results: Increasing Sporobolus cover resulted in a lower functional diversity and species richness, reduced average specific leaf area, and increased height of the who...