Europeans have unknowingly contributed to the spread of invasive plant species in the US
Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - 10:30
in Biology & Nature
Halle (Saale). The role of plant traits might be overestimated by biologists in studies on plant invasiveness. Anthropogenic factors such as whether the spcies was being cultivated proved to be more important. These conclusions were made from a study on Central European plants that were introduced by humans to North America and over time became naturalised in this continent. Naturalisation of new plant species, a process that makes it a permanent member of the local flora, most strongly depends on residence time in the invaded range and the number of habitats occupied by species in their native range, researchers reported in the journal Ecology.