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The global loss of floristic uniqueness

Yang, Qiang; Weigelt, Patrick; Fristoe, Trevor S.; Zhang, Zhijie; Kreft, Holger; Stein, Anke; Seebens, Hanno; Dawson, Wayne; Essl, Franz; König, Christian; Lenzner, Bernd; Pergl, Jan; Pouteau, Robin; Pyšek, Petr; Winter, Marten; Ebel, Aleksandr L.; Fuentes, Nicol; Giehl, Eduardo L.H.; Kartesz, John; Krestov, Pavel; Kukk, Toomas; Nishino, Misako; Kupriyanov, Andrey; Villaseñor, Jose Luis; Wieringa, Jan J.; Zeddam, Abida; Zykova, Elena; van Kleunen, Mark

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Authors

Qiang Yang

Patrick Weigelt

Trevor S. Fristoe

Zhijie Zhang

Holger Kreft

Anke Stein

Hanno Seebens

Franz Essl

Christian König

Bernd Lenzner

Jan Pergl

Robin Pouteau

Petr Pyšek

Marten Winter

Aleksandr L. Ebel

Nicol Fuentes

Eduardo L.H. Giehl

John Kartesz

Pavel Krestov

Toomas Kukk

Misako Nishino

Andrey Kupriyanov

Jose Luis Villaseñor

Jan J. Wieringa

Abida Zeddam

Elena Zykova

Mark van Kleunen



Abstract

Regional species assemblages have been shaped by colonization, speciation and extinction over millions of years. Humans have altered biogeography by introducing species to new ranges. However, an analysis of how strongly naturalized plant species (i.e. alien plants that have established self-sustaining populations) affect the taxonomic and phylogenetic uniqueness of regional floras globally is still missing. Here, we present such an analysis with data from native and naturalized alien floras in 658 regions around the world. We find strong taxonomic and phylogenetic floristic homogenization overall, and that the natural decline in floristic similarity with increasing geographic distance is weakened by naturalized species. Floristic homogenization increases with climatic similarity, which emphasizes the importance of climate matching in plant naturalization. Moreover, floristic homogenization is greater between regions with current or past administrative relationships, indicating that being part of the same country as well as historical colonial ties facilitate floristic exchange, most likely due to more intensive trade and transport between such regions. Our findings show that naturalization of alien plants threatens taxonomic and phylogenetic uniqueness of regional floras globally. Unless more effective biosecurity measures are implemented, it is likely that with ongoing globalization, even the most distant regions will lose their floristic uniqueness.

Citation

Yang, Q., Weigelt, P., Fristoe, T. S., Zhang, Z., Kreft, H., Stein, A., …van Kleunen, M. (2021). The global loss of floristic uniqueness. Nature Communications, 12(1), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27603-y

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 30, 2021
Online Publication Date Dec 15, 2021
Publication Date 2021
Deposit Date Feb 16, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Nature Communications
Electronic ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 12
Issue 1
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27603-y

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