Ecology. Interrelated causes of plant invasion.
In his or her Perspective, Blumenthal discusses how plants from high-resource habitats are often poorly defended, nutritious, and strongly regulated by enemies. Consequently, these species may benefit the most by entering new habits to escape their natural enemies. This hypothesis predicts that high-resource invasive species may be particularly susceptible to biological control and that increases in resource availability will favor exotic plants.
Blumenthal
Dana
D
U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service Rangeland Resources Research Unit, Crops Research Laboratory, 1701 Center Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA. dana.blumenthal@ars.usda.gov
D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004463:Ecology; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena