Introduction history mediates naturalization and invasiveness of cultivated plants

Aim: Species characteristics and cultivation are both associated with alien plant naturalization and invasiveness. Particular species characteristics are favored for cultivation, obscuring the relationship between traits and naturalization success. We sought to better understand the drivers of naturalization and invasiveness by analyzing relationships with species characteristics and cultivation and by disentangling the direct effects of characteristics from the indirect effects mediated by cultivation.
Location: Great Britain
Time period: c. 1000–present
Major taxa studied: Seed plants
Methods: We used a comprehensive dataset of 17,396 alien plant taxa introduced to Great Britain before 1850, a country with one of the most well-documented histories of plant introductions. We integrated this with cultivation data from historical and modern records of botanic gardens and commercial nurseries and with trait data. Accounting for time since introduction, we quantified the influences of cult...