Find research datasets worth reusing

Search datasets from major research repositories and use ShareScore to quickly assess how well each record supports discovery, access, and reuse.

126

datasets available to search

ShareScore release 0.9.0

Dataset results

126 results for “resistance to invasion”

Learn how ShareScore rates datasets ↗

dryad36/100

Wild herbivores enhance resistance to invasion by exotic cacti in an African savanna

1. Whether wild herbivores confer biotic resistance to invasion by exotic plants remains a key question in ecology. There is evidence that wild herbivores can impede invasion by exotic plants, but it is unclear whether and how this generalises across ecosystems with varying wild herbivore diversity and functional groups of plants, particularly over long-term (decadal) time frames. 2. Using data from three long-term (13- to 26-year) exclosure experiments in central Kenya, we tested the effects of wild herbivores on the density of exotic invasive cacti, Opuntia stricta and O. ficus-indica (collectively, Opuntia), which are among the worst invasive species globally. We also examined relationships between wild herbivore richness and elephant occurrence probability with the probability of O. stricta presence at the landscape level (6,150 km2). 3. Opuntia densities were 74% to 99% lower in almost all plots accessible to wild herbivores and increased more rapidly in plots excluding wild herbivores. These effects were largely driven by megaherbivores (≥1,000 kg), particularly elephants. 4. At the landscape level, modelled Opuntia occurrence probability was negatively correlated with estimated species richness of wild herbivores and elephant occurrence probability. On average, O. stricta occurrence probability fell from ~0.56 to ~0.45 as wild herbivore richness increased from 6 to 10 species and fell from ~0.57 to ~0.40 as elephant occurrence probability increased from ~0.41 to ~0.84. These multi-scale results suggest that any facilitative effects of Opuntia by wild herbivores (e.g., seed/vegetative dispersal) are overridden by suppression (e.g., consumption, uprooting, trampling). 5. Synthesis. Our experimental and observational findings that wild herbivores confer resistance to invasion by exotic cacti add to evidence that conserving and restoring native herbivore assemblages (particularly megaherbivores) can increase community resistance to plant invasions.

opencc-zeroSep 2022View details →

dryad36/100

Data from: Chemical novelty facilitates herbivore resistance and biological invasions in some introduced plant species

Ecological release from herbivory due to chemical novelty is commonly predicted to facilitate biological invasions by plants, but has not been tested on a community scale. We used metabolomics based on mass spectrometry molecular networks to assess the novelty of foliar secondary chemistry of 15 invasive plant species compared to 46 native species at a site in eastern North America. Locally, invasive species were more chemically distinctive than natives. Among the 15 invasive species, the more chemically distinct were less preferred by insect herbivores and less browsed by deer. Finally, an assessment of invasion frequency in 2,505 forest plots in the Atlantic coastal plain revealed that, regionally, invasive species that were less preferred by insect herbivores, less browsed by white-tailed deer, and chemically distinct relative to the native plant community occurred more frequently in survey plots. Our results suggest that chemically-mediated release from herbivores contributes to many successful invasions.

opencc-zeroJul 2021View details →

dryad36/100

Role of species richness and human-impacts in resisting invasive species in tropical forests

The biotic resistance hypothesis suggests that biodiversity rich areas should be resistant to biological invasions. Globally, conservationists use this hypothesis to protect diverse ecosystems. However, supporting data are often contradictory, possibly due to several confounding factors. Complexity in inferences increase in the tropics, which are sparsely studied. We hypothesize that human impacts, forest type and climate would modulate the relationship between native and invasive plant richness. To understand these interacting and varying effects of native richness and human disturbance on plant invasions, we sampled 354 grids of 25 km2 with equal representation of protected areas and multi-use areas to record abundance of native and non-native plants from 34 protected areas across five forest types in tropical India. We used linear mixed effect models to investigate occurrence and abundance of invasive plants with respect to varying native richness, human impacts, forest types and climate. Human use of forests increased richness and abundance of invasive plants across all forest types. After accounting for human-use, native species richness of tropical wet forests had a negative relationship with invasive plants richness and abundance, while the relationship reversed with increasing aridity and temperature. Human infrastructure facilitated invasions within protected areas. Synthesis. The biotic resistance hypothesis explained a lower number of invasions within protected tropical wet forests but not within dry forests. Human-free protected areas had lower richness and abundance of invasive plants across all systems, especially in wet tropical forests. Our results support the contextual importance of the biotic resistance hypothesis, while stressing the importance of protected areas, insulated from human impacts, to preserve the integrity of vulnerable natural systems.

opencc-zeroAug 2021View details →

dryad36/100

Does a history of population co-occurrence predict plant performance, community productivity, or invasion resistance?

A history of species co-occurrence in plant communities is hypothesized to lead to greater niche differentiation, more efficient resource partitioning, and more productive, resistant communities as a result of evolution in response to biotic interactions. A similar question can be asked of co-occurring populations: do individual species or community responses differ when communities are founded with plants sharing a history of population co-occurrence (sympatric) or originating from different locations (allopatric)? Using shrub, grass, and forb species from six locations in the western Great Basin, USA, we compared establishment, productivity, reproduction, phenology, and resistance to invaders for experimental communities with either sympatric or allopatric population associations. Each community type was planted with six taxa in outdoor mesocosms, measured over three growing seasons, and invaded with the annual grass Bromus tectorum in the final season. For most populations, the allopatric or sympatric status of neighbors was not important. However, in some cases, it was beneficial for some species from some locations to be planted with allopatric neighbors, while others benefited from sympatric neighbors, and some of these responses had large effects. For instance, the Elymus population that benefited the most from allopatry grew 50% larger with allopatric neighbors than in single origin mesocosms. This response affected invasion resistance, as B. tectorum biomass was strongly affected by productivity and phenology of Elymus spp., as well as Poa secunda. Our results demonstrate that while community composition can affect plant performance in semi-arid plant communities, assembling communities from sympatric populations is not sufficient to ensure high productivity and invasion resistance. Instead, we observed an idiosyncratic interaction between sampling effects and evolutionary history, with the potential for seed source of individual populations to have community-level effects.

opencc-zeroMay 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Nutrient enrichment undermines invasion resistance to Spartina alterniflora in a saltmarsh: Insights from modern coexistence theory

<ol> <li>The ability of native communities to maintain invasion resistance in the face of environmental changes is crucial for biodiversity conservation. However, previous studies have primarily focused on the inhibitive effects experienced by invaders, providing limited insights into the ultimate outcome of resistance.</li> <li>In this study, we integrated modern coexistence theory into biotic resistance research to investigate the impact of nutrient enrichment on the resistance of Phragmites australis marsh to Spartina alterniflora invasion in the Yangtze estuary saltmarshes of China.</li> <li>Our results demonstrated that under non-enriched conditions, successful invasion resistance was facilitated by stable coexistence between native and invasive species in the field. This prediction of invasion resistance aligned with the distribution dynamics of the two species in the Yangtze estuary saltmarshes over the past two decades. However, nutrient enrichment was likely to lead to a fundamental shift in their coexistence and ultimately, the failure of resistance.</li> <li> Synthesis and applications. Integrating modern coexistence theory into biotic resistance studies advances the assessment of invasion resistance by shifting from quantifying relative strength to predicting explicit resistance outcomes. Ecosystem managers can draw explicit conclusions about the potential establishment and impact of invaders by analyzing observational or experimental data within the framework of modern coexistence theory. This information aids in identifying the most efficient strategies for addressing invasive species.</li> </ol>

opencc-zeroDec 2022View details →

dryad36/100

Dominant species establishment may influence invasion resistance more than phylogenetic or functional diversity

<ol> <li>Phylogenetic and functional diversity are theorized to increase invasion resistance. Experimentally testing whether plant communities higher in these components of diversity are less invasible is an important step for guiding restoration designs.</li> <li>To investigate how phylogenetic and functional diversity of vegetation affect invasion resistance in a restoration setting, we used experimental prairie restoration plots. The experiment crossed three levels of phylogenetic diversity with two levels of functional diversity while species richness was held constant. We allowed invaders to colonize plots; these included native species from neighboring plots and non-native invasive species from a surrounding old field. We tested if invader biomass was influenced by phylogenetic and functional diversity, and phylogenetic and hierarchical trait distances between invaders and planted species. We binned each invader into three categories: native species from neighboring experimental plots (site-specific invaders); native species not part of the experimental species pool (native invaders); or non-native species (non-native invaders).</li> <li>Counter to expectation, both non-native and native invaders became more abundant in more phylogenetically diverse plots. However, plots with higher abundance of planted Asteraceae, a dominant family of the tallgrass prairie, had lower invader biomass for both native and non-native invaders.</li> <li>We also found that hierarchical trait differences shaped invasion. The species that became most abundant were non-native invaders that were taller, and native invaders with low specific leaf area relative to planted species. Site-specific invaders were not influenced by any plot-level diversity metrics tested.</li> <li> Synthesis and application: Our results suggest greater phylogenetic diversity may lower resistance to invasion. This effect may be due to more even but sparser niche packing in high-diversity plots, associated with greater availability of unsaturated niche space for colonization. However, trait composition fostered invasion resistance in two ways in our study. First, establishment of native species with strongly dominant traits may confer invasion resistance. Second, species mixes that optimize trait differences between planted vegetation and likely invaders may enhance invasion-resistance.</li> </ol>

opencc-zeroOct 2023View details →

dryad36/100