Trait-Environment Relationships Reveal the Success of Alien Plants Invasiveness in an Urbanized Landscape.

ABSTRACT: Urban areas are being affected by rapidly increasing human-made pressures that can strongly homogenize biodiversity, reduce habitat heterogeneity, and facilitate the invasion of alien species. One of the key concerns in invaded urban areas is comparing the trait-environment relationships between alien and native species, to determine the underlying causes of invasiveness. In the current study, we used a trait-environment dataset of 130 native plants and 33 alien plants, recorded in 100 plots covering 50 urban areas and 50 non-urban ones in an urbanization gradient in the arid mountainous Saint-Katherine protected area in Egypt. We measured eleven morphological plant traits for each plant species and ten environmental variables in each plot, including soil resources and human-made pressures

SUBMITTER: El-Barougy RF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8399185 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature