Scale-dependence of landscape heterogeneity effects on plant invasions

Invasive alien species are amongst the most concerning threats to native biodiversity worldwide, and the level of landscape heterogeneity is considered to affect spatial patterns of their occurrence and spread. However, as previous studies on these associations report contrasting results, the role of landscape heterogeneity on its susceptibility to invasions remains poorly understood. Landscape heterogeneity is usually described by two measures: configuration and composition. Both measures may differently affect invasive species and these impacts may be additionally scale-dependent. Nevertheless, their relative contribution to invasion patterns is poorly known. We investigated the effect of two landscape heterogeneity components: configuration (edge density) and composition (number and evenness of land-cover types) measured at different spatial scales (from within 0.25 km to 5 km of the studied localities) on the local abundance of one of the most invasive alien plant species in Europe,..., , ,