الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Successful invasions are dependent on survival of the introduced species in a novel environment; these species must have greater variation in traits that influence survival, colonization and spread. To uncover which combination of traits are most effective for predicting invasion success, we studied three different urban habitat types along the Nile Delta in Egypt invaded by the Pink Morning Glory, Ipomoea carnea Jaq. (Family: Convolvulaceae). Over two years, ten plant traits were measured at monthly intervals along an invasion gradient in each habitat. To investigate the role of resident species richness, the phylogenetic diversity and the phylogenetic relatedness of recipient invaded communities on the invader performance was investigated. The present findings revealed no single trait sufficiently explained survival probability and that traits linked to invasion success were better predicted by the characteristics of the invaded habitat. There was a positive significant relationship between invader performance traits and its phylogenetic relatedness to the resident species in all recipient - invaded communities. Furthermore, species rich-communities with high phylogenetic diversity contributed to highly invader performance. Moreover, these results exhibited facilitation patterns that contrasting with biotic resistance hypothesis. A synthetic approach that incorporates a deeper understanding of how diversity measures (functional, phylogenetic diversity and resident species richness) interactions can also be incorporated to predict the relationships between invasion and ecosystem function. It’s speculated that the present study can be applied whereas highly invaded communities with native species distantly related to the invasive species I. carnea. Applications in the field of plant invasion will not be in the main focus, since a model will be built and recommended management of any invasive species. |