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Naturalized alien floras still carry the legacy of European colonialism

Lenzner, Bernd; Latombe, Guillaume; Schertler, Anna; Seebens, Hanno; Yang, Qiang; Winter, Marten; Weigelt, Patrick; van Kleunen, Mark; Pyšek, Petr; Pergl, Jan; Kreft, Holger; Dawson, Wayne; Dullinger, Stefan; Essl, Franz

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Authors

Bernd Lenzner

Guillaume Latombe

Anna Schertler

Hanno Seebens

Qiang Yang

Marten Winter

Patrick Weigelt

Mark van Kleunen

Petr Pyšek

Jan Pergl

Holger Kreft

Stefan Dullinger

Franz Essl



Abstract

The redistribution of alien species across the globe accelerated with the start of European colonialism. European powers were responsible for the deliberate and accidental transportation, introduction and establishment of alien species throughout their occupied territories and the metropolitan state. Here, we show that these activities left a lasting imprint on the global distribution of alien plants. Specifically, we investigated how four European empires (British, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch) structured current alien floras worldwide. We found that compositional similarity is higher than expected among regions that once were occupied by the same empire. Further, we provide strong evidence that floristic similarity between regions occupied by the same empire increases with the time a region was occupied. Network analysis suggests that historically more economically or strategically important regions have more similar alien floras across regions occupied by an empire. Overall, we find that European colonial history is still detectable in alien floras worldwide.

Citation

Lenzner, B., Latombe, G., Schertler, A., Seebens, H., Yang, Q., Winter, M., …Essl, F. (2022). Naturalized alien floras still carry the legacy of European colonialism. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 6(11), 1723-1732. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01865-1

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 2, 2022
Online Publication Date Oct 17, 2022
Publication Date 2022-11
Deposit Date Oct 31, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Nature Ecology & Evolution
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 6
Issue 11
Pages 1723-1732
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01865-1

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