A latitudinal gradient in Darwin’s naturalization conundrum at the global scale for flowering plants

Shu-ya Fan, Qiang Yang, Shao-peng Li (), Trevor S. Fristoe, Marc W. Cadotte, Franz Essl, Holger Kreft, Jan Pergl, Petr Pyšek, Patrick Weigelt, John Kartesz, Misako Nishino, Jan J. Wieringa and Mark Kleunen
Additional contact information
Shu-ya Fan: East China Normal University
Qiang Yang: University of Konstanz
Shao-peng Li: East China Normal University
Trevor S. Fristoe: University of Konstanz
Marc W. Cadotte: University of Toronto Scarborough
Franz Essl: University of Vienna
Holger Kreft: University of Göttingen
Jan Pergl: Department of Invasion Ecology
Petr Pyšek: Department of Invasion Ecology
Patrick Weigelt: University of Göttingen
John Kartesz: Biota of North America Program (BONAP)
Misako Nishino: Biota of North America Program (BONAP)
Jan J. Wieringa: Naturalis Biodiversity Centre
Mark Kleunen: University of Konstanz

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Darwin’s naturalization conundrum describes two seemingly contradictory hypotheses regarding whether alien species closely or distantly related to native species should be more likely to naturalize in regional floras. Both expectations have accumulated empirical support, and whether such apparent inconsistency can be reconciled at the global scale is unclear. Here, using 219,520 native and 9,531 naturalized alien plant species across 487 globally distributed regions, we found a latitudinal gradient in Darwin’s naturalization conundrum. Naturalized alien plant species are more closely related to native species at higher latitudes than they are at lower latitudes, indicating a greater influence of preadaptation in harsher climates. Human landscape modification resulted in even steeper latitudinal clines by selecting aliens distantly related to natives in warmer and drier regions. Our results demonstrate that joint consideration of climatic and anthropogenic conditions is critical to reconciling Darwin’s naturalization conundrum.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-41607-w Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-41607-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41607-w

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().