title: Abundance of introduced species at home predicts abundance away in herbaceous communities.
abstract: Many ecosystems worldwide are dominated by introduced plant species, leading to loss of biodiversity and ecosystem function. A common but rarely tested assumption is that these plants are more abundant in introduced vs. native communities, because ecological or evolutionary-based shifts in populations underlie invasion success. Here, data for 26 herbaceous species at 39 sites, within eight countries, revealed that species abundances were similar at native (home) and introduced (away) sites - grass species were generally abundant home and away, while forbs were low in abundance, but more abundant at home. Sites with six or more of these species had similar community abundance hierarchies, suggesting that suites of introduced species are assembling similarly on different continents. Overall, we found that substantial changes to populations are not necessarily a pre-condition for invasion success and that increases in species abundance are unusual. Instead, abundance at home predicts abundance away, a potentially useful additional criterion for biosecurity programmes.
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, St. Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia. jennifer.firn@qut.edu.au
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Firn
authors.forename: Joslin L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Andrew S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: MacDougall
authors.forename: Elizabeth T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Borer
authors.forename: Eric W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Seabloom
authors.forename: Janneke
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: HilleRisLambers
authors.forename: W Stanley
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Harpole
authors.forename: Elsa E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Cleland
authors.forename: Cynthia S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Johannes M H
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Knops
authors.forename: Suzanne M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Prober
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Pyke
authors.forename: Kelly A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Farrell
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Bakker
authors.forename: Lydia R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: O'Halloran
authors.forename: Peter B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Adler
authors.forename: Scott L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Carla M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: D'Antonio
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Crawley
authors.forename: Elizabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Wolkovich
authors.forename: Kimberly J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: La Pierre
authors.forename: Brett A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Melbourne
authors.forename: Yann
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hautier
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Andrew D B
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Leakey
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kay
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McCulley
authors.forename: Kendi F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: Carly J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.forename: Cheng-Jin
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Karen D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Holl
authors.forename: Julia A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Philip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Fay
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hagenah
authors.forename: Kevin P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Kirkman
authors.forename: Yvonne M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Buckley
mesh_terms: D058448:Biota; D058865:Introduced Species; D019684:Magnoliopsida; D006109:Poaceae; D011156:Population Density