Antigonon leptopus invasion is associated with plant community disassembly in a Caribbean island ecosystem

Maarten B Eppinga,Elizabeth A Haber,Max Rietkerk,Maria J Santos,Luke Sweeney,Martin J Wassen

doi:10.1007/s10530-021-02646-w

Maarten B Eppinga, Elizabeth A Haber + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-021-02646-w

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Abstract

Invasions by non-native plant species are widely recognized as a major driver of biodiversity loss. Globally, (sub-)tropical islands form important components of biodiversity hotspots, while being particularly susceptible to invasions by plants in general and vines in particular. We studied the impact of the invasive vine A. leptopus on the diversity and structure of recipient plant communities on the northern Caribbean island St. Eustatius. We used a paired-plot design to study differences in species richness, evenness and community structure under A. leptopus-invaded and uninvaded conditions. Community structure was studied through species co-occurrence patterns. We found that in plots invaded by A. leptopus, species richness was 40–50% lower, and these plots also exhibited lower evenness. The magnitude of these negative impacts increased with increasing cover of A. leptopus. Invaded plots also showed higher degrees of homogeneity in species composition. Species co-occurrence patterns indicated that plant communities in uninvaded plots were characterized by segregation, whereas recipient plant communities in invaded plots exhibited random co-occurrence patterns. These observations suggest that invasion of A. leptopus is not only associated with reduced species richness and evenness of recipient communities in invaded sites, but also with a community disassembly process that may reduce diversity between sites. Given that A. leptopus is a successful invader of (sub-)tropical islands around the globe, these impacts on plant community structure highlight that this invasive species could be a particular conservation concern for these systems.

Highlights

Invasions by non-native plant species represent an important ecological driver of ecosystem change, exerting profound impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being (Olson 2006; Pejchar and Mooney 2009; Vilaet al. 2011; Bellard et al 2016; Shackleton et al 2019)
There is an urgent need to increase our understanding of the impacts of non-native plant invasions on the relatively high and unique biodiversity oftropical islands, as these systems are susceptible to plant invasions (Kueffer et al 2010; Essl et al 2019)
A. leptopus is a prominent example of a vine that has successfully invadedtropical islands around the globe, its impacts on recipient plant communities have not yet been systematically quantified

Summary

Introduction

Invasions by non-native plant species represent an important ecological driver of ecosystem change, exerting profound impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being (Olson 2006; Pejchar and Mooney 2009; Vilaet al. 2011; Bellard et al 2016; Shackleton et al 2019). D’Antonio 2014; Bradley et al 2019; De la Riva et al 2019), and biotic homogenization at the expense of endemic species (McKinney and Lockwood 1999; Olden et al 2004; Sax and Gaines 2008; Santos et al 2011; Khanna et al 2012; Kortz and Magurran 2019; Galan-Dıaz et al 2020). The latter mechanism is of particular concern for (sub-)tropical island archipelagos. While the impacts of invasive plant species on the diversity of recipient plant communities have been well documented in general (Vilaet al. 2011; Mollot et al 2017; Pysek et al 2017; Peng et al 2019), the specific impacts of invasive plant species in (sub-)tropical island ecosystems have been studied less in comparison (Pysek et al 2008; Sax and Gaines 2008; Lowry et al 2013; Jeschke et al 2018; Peng et al 2019)

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