Traits of native and alien plant species in different habitats of the Czech Republic
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | In this study, we explored trait differences among native, naturalized and invasive species in a range of habitat types. We asked whether the naturalized and invasive species are different from the native species if their traits are considered (i) separately and (ii) together in multivariate trait space. To answer these questions, we used 24,935 vegetation plots distributed across the Czech Republic and classified to six habitat types. For each of 1864 species recorded in these plots, we considered three traits: plant height, specific leaf area (SLA) and germinule weight. Invasive species were, in almost all habitats, significantly taller than native species but both their SLA and germinule weight did not differ strongly from those of native species. Moreover, traits of naturalized species were very similar to those of native species. In some habitats, traits of invasive species were on the periphery of the trait space of natives, whereas traits of naturalized species were unusually close the center of the trait space of native species. Collectively, these results suggest that the stage of the invasion process plays a role in structuring the invaded communities, with the major step being the transition from naturalized to invasive species. |
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