Invasion impacts diversity through altered community dynamics

Abstract

Summary: Invading plant species often alter community structure, composition and, in some instances, reduce local diversity. However, the community dynamics underlying these impacts are relatively unknown. Declines in species richness with invasion may occur via displacement of resident species and/or reduction of seedling establishment by the invader. These two mechanisms differ in the demographic stage of the interaction. We document turnover dynamics using long‐term permanent plot data to assess the mechanism(s) of invasion impacts of four exotic species on a mixed community of native and exotic species. These mechanisms were evaluated at both the neighbourhood (1‐m 2 plot) and population (individual species) scales. During invasion, species richness declined with increasing invader cover for three of the four invaders. All invaders reduced colonization rates, but had no effect on extinction rates at the neighbourhood scale. Populations differed in their susceptibility to invasion impacts, with significant reductions in colonization for 10 of 25 (40%) species and increases in extinction for only 4 of 29 (14%) species. At neighbourhood and population scales, influences of invasion on community dynamics were essentially the same for all invaders regardless of life‐form. While individual resident species had some increase in extinction probability, community richness impacts were largely driven by colonization limitation. The consistency of invasion impacts across life‐forms suggests establishment limitation as a general mechanism of invasion impact. This common causal mechanism should be explored in other systems to determine the extent of its generality.