Revisiting Darwin’s naturalization conundrum: explaining invasion success of non-native trees and shrubs in southern Africa

1. Invasive species are detrimental ecologically and economically. Their negative impacts in Africa are extensive and call for a renewed commitment to better understand the correlates of invasion success. 2. Here, we explored several putative drivers of species invasion among woody non-native trees and shrubs in southern Africa, a region of high floristic diversity. We tested for differences in functional traits between plant categories using a combination of phylogenetic independent contrasts and a simulation-based phylogenetic anova. 3. We found that non-native species generally have longer flowering duration compared with native species and are generally hermaphroditic, and their dispersal is mostly abiotically mediated. We also revealed that non-native trees and shrubs that have become invasive are less closely related to native trees and shrubs than their non-invasive non-native counterparts. Non-natives that are more closely related to the native species pool may be more likely to...1. 外来入侵物种会对生态与经济领域造成损害。其在非洲地区产生的负面影响范围广泛，亟需学界投入更多研究精力，以更好地厘清物种入侵成功的相关关联因素。2. 本研究以植物区系多样性丰富的非洲南部区域为研究对象，针对该区域内的木本外来乔灌木，探讨了若干潜在的物种入侵驱动因子。我们结合系统发育独立对比（phylogenetic independent contrasts）与基于模拟的系统发育方差分析（simulation-based phylogenetic ANOVA），检验了不同植物类群间功能性状的差异。3. 研究结果显示，外来物种的开花时长普遍长于本土物种，且多为雌雄同株，其传播方式主要以非生物媒介介导。同时我们发现，已成功入侵的木本外来乔灌木，与本土乔灌木的亲缘关系，相较于非入侵性外来同类物种更为疏远。与本土物种种群亲缘关系更近的外来物种，或许更有可能……