title: What it takes to invade grassland ecosystems: traits, introduction history and filtering processes.
abstract: Whether the success of alien species can be explained by their functional or phylogenetic characteristics remains unresolved because of data limitations, scale issues and weak quantifications of success. Using permanent grasslands across France (50 000 vegetation plots, 2000 species, 130 aliens) and building on the Rabinowitz's classification to quantify spread, we showed that phylogenetic and functional similarities to natives were the most important correlates of invasion success compared to intrinsic functional characteristics and introduction history. Results contrasted between spatial scales and components of invasion success. Widespread and common aliens were similar to co-occurring natives at coarse scales (indicating environmental filtering), but dissimilar at finer scales (indicating local competition). In contrast, regionally widespread but locally rare aliens showed patterns of competitive exclusion already at coarse scale. Quantifying trait differences between aliens and natives and distinguishing the components of invasion success improved our ability to understand and potentially predict alien spread at multiple scales.
authors.affiliation: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LECA, F-38000, Grenoble, France.|CNRS, LECA, F-38000, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carboni
authors.affiliation: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LECA, F-38000, Grenoble, France.|CNRS, LECA, F-38000, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Münkemüller
authors.affiliation: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LECA, F-38000, Grenoble, France.|CNRS, LECA, F-38000, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lavergne
authors.affiliation: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LECA, F-38000, Grenoble, France.|CNRS, LECA, F-38000, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Choler
authors.affiliation: CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - EPHE -1919 route de Mende, F-34293, Montpellier, CEDEX 5, France.|CESAB/FRB, Domaine du Petit Arbois, Avenue Louis Philibert, 13545, Aix-en-Provence, France.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Borgy
authors.affiliation: CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - EPHE -1919 route de Mende, F-34293, Montpellier, CEDEX 5, France.
authors.forename: Cyrille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Violle
authors.affiliation: Division of Conservation Biology, Vegetation and Landscape Ecology, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, 1030, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Franz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Essl
authors.affiliation: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LECA, F-38000, Grenoble, France.|CNRS, LECA, F-38000, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roquet
authors.affiliation: University of Montpellier, UMR AMAP, TA A51/PS2, 34398, Montpellier Cedex 05, France.|French Institute of Pondicherry, Ecology, 11 St Louis Street, Pondicherry, 605001, India.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Munoz
authors.affiliation: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LECA, F-38000, Grenoble, France.|CNRS, LECA, F-38000, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Wilfried
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Thuiller
mesh_terms: D005602:France; D065948:Grassland; D058865:Introduced Species; D063148:Plant Dispersal
keywords: Alien species; Rabinowitz; functional and phylogenetic similarity; invasibility; invasion success; invasiveness