1. Understanding ecological strategies of invasive species relative to the entire native community is important in understanding and managing both the mechanisms and the potential impacts of invasion, but few studies have taken this approach. 2. We utilize advances in plant ecology to compare functional traits of an invasive shrub species, autumn-olive Elaeagnus umbellata, to those of the under...

BACKGROUND Functional group composition may affect invasion in two ways the effect of abundance, i.e. dominance of functional group; and the effect of traits, i.e. identity of functional groups. However, few studies have focused on the role of abundance of functional group on invasion resistance. Moreover, how resource availability influences the role of the dominant functional group in invasio...

Interaction effects of different stressors, such as extreme drought and plant invasion, can have detrimental on ecosystem functioning recovery after drought. With ongoing climate change increasing there is an urgent need to predict the short- long-term interaction impacts these stressors ecosystems. We established a combined precipitation exclusion shrub invasion (Cistus ladanifer) experiment i...

Ecosystems containing multiple nonnative plant species are common, but mechanisms promoting their co-occurrence are understudied. Plant-soil interactions contribute to the dominance of singleton species in nonnative ranges because many nonnatives experience stronger positive feedbacks relative to co-occurring natives. Plant-soil interactions could impede other nonnatives if an individual nonnat...

Exotic invasive species can directly and indirectly influence natural ecological communities. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is non-native to the western United States and has invaded large areas of the Great Basin. Changes to the structure and composition of plant communities invaded by cheatgrass likely have effects at higher trophic levels. As a keystone guild in North American deserts, graniv...

A common form of land degradation at the desert margins involves the rapid encroachment of woody plants into historic grasslands and the acceleration of soil erosion as a result of the loss of grass cover (Archer, 1989; Schlesinger et al., 1990). The conversion of perennial grasslands into desert scrublands has been documented worldwide (Van Auken, 2000; Ravi, 2008) and has important implicatio...

Plant invasions of natural communities are commonly associated with reduced species diversity and altered ecosystem structure and function. This study investigated the effects of invasion and management of the woody shrub Lantana camara (lantana) in wet sclerophyll forest on the south-east coast of Australia. The effects of L. camara invasion and management on resident vegetation diversity and ...