TY - JOUR
T1 - Will there be a shift to alien-dominated vegetation assemblages under climate change?
AU - Leishman, Michelle R.
AU - Gallagher, Rachael V.
PY - 2015/7/1
Y1 - 2015/7/1
N2 - Alien plant invasions are considered likely to be facilitated by climate change, resulting in a shift to more alien-dominated vegetation globally. Alien invaders typically have dispersal, environmental tolerance and adaptive capacity traits that may be beneficial for responding to a changing climate. We examine the main drivers of vegetation change under climate change and assess whether these are likely to favour alien invaders over native species. We suggest that responses of native and alien plants to changes in CO2, temperature and rainfall will be strongly species and context dependent so that alien invaders will not consistently be favoured. However, climate change is likely to reduce resilience of vegetation assemblages resulting in increased colonization opportunities which alien invaders are best placed to take advantage of. Consequently, management should focus on actions to increase native vegetation resilience as well as monitoring and early eradication efforts.
AB - Alien plant invasions are considered likely to be facilitated by climate change, resulting in a shift to more alien-dominated vegetation globally. Alien invaders typically have dispersal, environmental tolerance and adaptive capacity traits that may be beneficial for responding to a changing climate. We examine the main drivers of vegetation change under climate change and assess whether these are likely to favour alien invaders over native species. We suggest that responses of native and alien plants to changes in CO2, temperature and rainfall will be strongly species and context dependent so that alien invaders will not consistently be favoured. However, climate change is likely to reduce resilience of vegetation assemblages resulting in increased colonization opportunities which alien invaders are best placed to take advantage of. Consequently, management should focus on actions to increase native vegetation resilience as well as monitoring and early eradication efforts.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84931956554&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/ddi.12338
DO - 10.1111/ddi.12338
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84931956554
VL - 21
SP - 848
EP - 852
JO - Diversity and Distributions
JF - Diversity and Distributions
SN - 1366-9516
IS - 7
ER -