Different diversity mechanisms underlying drought resistance in native and invaded communities

The decline of global biodiversity and the increasing spread of invasive alien plants raise critical questions about how native species diversity and biological invasions interact to influence community resistance to disturbance, particularly global climate change. To explore the effects of native species diversity and biological invasions on community resistance to drought, we established experimental plant communities with varying species richness levels (1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 species), introduced the invasive species Symphyotrichum subulatum into half of these communities and then subjected all communities to no, moderate or intense drought. In both native and invaded communities, community resistance to drought was negatively correlated with biomass of the communities without drought, regardless of species richness. Additionally, lower biomass of the communities without drought was associated with smaller drought‐induced increases in root:shoot ratio, which in turn conferred higher community drought resistance. However, the mechanisms underlying drought resistance differed between native and invaded communities: changes in biomass triggered by complementarity effects positively determined drought resistance in native communities, but those triggered by selection effects governed drought resistance in invaded communities. Synthesis. These findings reveal distinct mechanisms governing drought resistance in native communities and those invaded by S. subulatum, offering valuable insights for managing the invasion of this species in the context of global climate change.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Journal of Ecology

• Publication date

  2025-08-02

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1111/1365-2745.70125
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Meta-analysis reveals global variations in plant diversity effects on productivity

  2025cited by this paper
• Cultivar mixtures increase stability and productivity over time through asynchrony and complementarity

  2025cited by this paper
• Extreme drought-heatwave events threaten the biodiversity and stability of aquatic plankton communities in the Yangtze River ecosystems

  2025cited by this paper
• Satellite Remote Sensing Reveals More Beneficial Effect of Forest Plant Diversity on Drought Resistance in More Arid Areas of Yunnan, China

  2025cited by this paper
• Towards mechanistic integration of the causes and consequences of biodiversity.

  2024cited by this paper
• Positive effects of tree species diversity on productivity switch to negative after severe drought mortality in a temperate forest experiment

  2024cited by this paper
• Effect of drought stress on the physiology and early growth of seven Senegalia (Acacia) Senegal (L.) Britton provenances

  2024cited by this paper
• Precipitation- rather than temperature-driven pattern in belowground biomass and root:shoot ratio across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

  2024cited by this paper
• Drought weakens the positive effect of plant diversity on community biomass

  2024cited by this paper
• Compound and consecutive drought-flood events at a global scale

  2024cited by this paper
• Species diversity promotes facilitation under stressful conditions

  2024cited by this paper
• Crop cultivar mixtures stabilize productivity, partly via facilitation, when conditions are less benign

  2023cited by this paper
• Disproportionate declines of formerly abundant species underlie insect loss

  2023cited by this paper
• Global warming intensifies the interference competition by a poleward-expanding invader on a native dragonfly species

  2023cited by this paper
• The role of plant diversity and facilitation during tropical dry forest restoration

  2023cited by this paper
• Functional redundancy changes along a drought stress gradient for the shift of selection effect to complementarity effect in experimental plant communities

  2022cited by this paper
• Nutrient addition drives declines in grassland species richness primarily via enhanced species loss

  2022cited by this paper
• Soil water and phosphorus availability determines plant-plant facilitation in maize-grass pea intercropping system

  2022cited by this paper
• Plant biomass allocation is mediated by precipitation use efficiency in arid and semiarid ecosystems

  2022cited by this paper
• Disentangling the effects of biomass and productivity in plant competition.

  2022cited by this paper
• Temporal stability of productivity is associated with complementarity and competitive intensities in intercropping.

  2022cited by this paper
• Belowground Root Competition Alters the Grass Seedling Establishment Response to Light by a Nitrogen Addition and Mowing Experiment in a Temperate Steppe

  2022cited by this paper
• The role of species interactions for forest resilience to drought.

  2022cited by this paper
• Relating the Growth Phenology and Biomass Allocation in Seedlings of 13 Acadian Tree Species With Their Drought Tolerance

  2022cited by this paper
• Mechanistic links between biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning and stability in a multi‐site grassland experiment

  2021cited by this paper
• Biomass allocation of Vincetoxicum rossicum and V. nigrum in contrasting competitive environments.

  2021cited by this paper
• Evenness alters the positive effect of species richness on community drought resistance via changing complementarity

  2021cited by this paper
• Environmental and socioeconomic correlates of extinction risk in endemic species

  2021cited by this paper
• Seedling Growth and Biomass Production under Different Light Availability Levels and Competition Types

  2021cited by this paper
• Future global socioeconomic risk to droughts based on estimates of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability in a changing climate.

  2021cited by this paper
• How complementarity and selection affect the relationship between ecosystem functioning and stability.

  2021cited by this paper
• Drought Resistance and Resilience of Non-Native Versus Invaded-Native Grassland in the Northern Tallgrass Prairie

  2021cited by this paper
• Invasion drives plant diversity loss through competition and ecosystem modification

  2020cited by this paper
• Scientists' warning on invasive alien species

  2020cited by this paper
• Resistance of soil biota and plant growth to disturbance increases with plant diversity.

  2019cited by this paper
• Soil and stand structure explain shrub mortality patterns following global change type-drought and extreme precipitation.

  2019cited by this paper
• Negative relationship between diversity and productivity under plant invasion

  2018cited by this paper
• Drought effect on plant biomass allocation: A meta‐analysis

  2017cited by this paper
• Strong invaders are strong defenders - implications for the resistance of invaded communities.

  2016cited by this paper
• Loss of Plant Species Diversity Reduces Soil Erosion Resistance

  2015cited by this paper
• Biodiversity enhances ecosystem multifunctionality across trophic levels and habitats

  2015cited by this paper
• Global exchange and accumulation of non-native plants

  2015cited by this paper
• Effect of Intra- and Interspecific Competition on the Performance of Native and Invasive Species of Impatiens under Varying Levels of Shade and Moisture

  2013cited by this paper
• From selection to complementarity: the shift along the abiotic stress gradient in a controlled biodiversity experiment

  2012cited by this paper
• Nitrogen uptake by grassland communities: contribution of N2 fixation, facilitation, complementarity, and species dominance

  2012cited by this paper
• Soil fungal pathogens and the relationship between plant diversity and productivity.

  2011cited by this paper
• A meta-analysis of trait differences between invasive and non-invasive plant species.

  2010cited by this paper
• Impacts of soil microbial communities on exotic plant invasions.

  2010cited by this paper
• Biodiversity maintenance mechanisms differ between native and novel exotic-dominated communities.

  2009cited by this paper
• Mixed Effects Models and Extensions in Ecology with R

  2009cited by this paper
• Evaluating plant-soil feedback together with competition in a serpentine grassland.

  2007cited by this paper
• Biomass-dependent susceptibility to drought in experimental grassland communities.

  2007cited by this paper
• Partitioning selection and complementarity in biodiversity experiments

  2001cited by this paper
• The influence of species diversity on ecosystem productivity: how, where, and why?

  2001cited by this paper
• Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: recent theoretical advances

  2000cited by this paper
• Competition intensity and its importance: results of field experiments with Anthoxanthum odoratum

  2000cited by this paper
• THE ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF CHANGES IN BIODIVERSITY: A SEARCH FOR GENERAL PRINCIPLES101

  1999cited by this paper
• Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: a mechanistic model.

  1998cited by this paper
• Biodiversity and Ecosystem Properties

  1997cited by this paper
• A new method which gives an objective measure of colonization of roots by vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

  1990cited by this paper
• Competitive Exclusion in Herbaceous Vegetation

  1973cited by this paper
• The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants

  1958cited by this paper
• Drought timing and degradation status determine the grassland sensitivity to simulated drought events

  year unknowncited by this paper
• Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Publications Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Invaded Grassland Communities Have Altered Stability-maintenance Mechanisms but Equal Stability Compared to Native Communities Invaded Grassland Communities Have Altered Stability- Maintenance Mechanisms

  year unknowncited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.