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Positive Interactions of Native Species Melt Invasional Meltdown over Long-Term Plant Succession
  • +3
  • Deyi Yin,
  • Scott Meiners,
  • Ming Ni,
  • Qing Ye,
  • Fangliang He,
  • Marc Cadotte
Deyi Yin
South China Botanical Garden

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Scott Meiners
Eastern Illinois University
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Ming Ni
Universite de Sherbrooke
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Qing Ye
South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Fangliang He
University of Alberta
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Marc Cadotte
University of Toronto-Scarborough
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Abstract

Positive interactions have been hypothesized to influence plant community dynamics and species invasions. However, their prevalence and importance relative to negative interactions remain unclear, but are fundamentally important for both theoretical and applied ecology. We examined pairwise biotic interactions using over 50 years of successional data to assess the prevalence of positive interactions and their effects on each focal species (either native or exotic). We found that positive interactions were widespread and the relative frequency of positive and negative interactions varied with establishment stage and between native and exotic species. Specifically, positive interactions were more frequent during early establishment and less frequent at later stages. Positive interactions involving native species were more frequent and stronger than those between exotic species, reducing the impact of invasional meltdown on succession. Our study highlights the role of positive native interactions in shielding communities from biological invasion and enhancing the potential for long-term resilience.
07 Jun 2022Submitted to Ecology Letters
09 Jun 2022Submission Checks Completed
09 Jun 2022Assigned to Editor
13 Jun 2022Reviewer(s) Assigned
05 Jul 2022Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
06 Jul 2022Editorial Decision: Revise Major
24 Aug 20221st Revision Received
25 Aug 2022Submission Checks Completed
25 Aug 2022Assigned to Editor
26 Aug 2022Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
30 Aug 2022Editorial Decision: Accept
30 Oct 2022Published in Ecology Letters. 10.1111/ele.14127