Mechanisms of Invasion Resistance of Aquatic Plant Communities.

ABSTRACT: Invasive plant species are among the major threats to freshwater biodiversity. Few experimental studies have investigated whether native plant diversity can provide biotic resistance to invaders in freshwater ecosystems. At small spatial scales, invasion resistance may increase with plant species richness due to a better use of available resources, leaving less available for a potential invader (Complementarity effect) and/or the greater probability to have a highly competitive (or productive) native species in the community (Selection effect). In submerged aquatic plant communities, we tested the following hypotheses: (1) invader establishment success is greatest in the absence of a native plant community; (2) lower in plant communities with greater native species richness, due to complem

SUBMITTER: Petruzzella A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5811644 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature