Abstract
Plant invasion is a significant driver of species loss in ecological
communities. However, projecting its impact on the coexistence potential
of multi-species communities and their persistence under random
environmental perturbations remains challenging. Here, we conducted
pairwise experiments with five native and five non-native species using
the Ricker model to estimate interaction coefficients and assessed the
impact of non-native species on community persistence through
feasibility domains (i.e., the probability that all species can coexist
simultaneously), and species exclusion probabilities. At the community
level, we found that community persistence generally declined after
non-native species invasion, with the feasibility domain becoming more
asymmetric as more native species were replaced by non-native ones. At
the species level, non-native species are likely to be excluded first
under strong perturbations. Our findings highlight the importance of
clarifying species interactions in shaping community persistence, and
tailoring invasion management strategies to local environments to
optimize resource allocation.