Scaling phenomena are at the core of a great variety of ecological processes ranging from individual physiology to population, community and ecosystems, and emerge as the result of the operation of general principles governing their structure and functioning. In this chapter, we assess the generality of scaling relationships in the distribution and abundance of species by comparing invasive exo...

One of the many unintended consequences of global commerce has been the translocation of countless plants and animals to new regions, continents, and oceans [1,2]. Such “exotic” species have colonized nearly every habitat on Earth, and modern ecosystems are now made up largely of species originating from geographically distinct regions [3–5]. Most exotic species have negligible or no negative e...

The current rate of invasive species introductions is unprecedented, and the dramatic impacts of exotic invasive plants on community and ecosystem properties have been well documented. Despite the pressing management implications, the mechanisms that control exotic plant invasion remain poorly understood. Several factors, such as disturbance, propagule pressure, species diversity, and herbivory...

BACKGROUND The introduction of exotic species can have serious consequences for marine ecosystems. On the shores of the Cantabrian Sea (North of Spain) there are no routine examinations of seaweeds that combine molecular and morphological methods for early detection of exotic species making it difficult to assess in the early stages their establishment and expansion processes as a result of ant...

Analyses of species-diversity patterns of remote islands have been crucial to the development of biogeographic theory, yet little is known about corresponding patterns in functional traits on islands and how, for example, they may be affected by the introduction of exotic species. We collated trait data for spiders and beetles and used a functional diversity index (FRic) to test for nonrandomne...

Vegetation in private gardens contributes significantly to plant species richness and vegetation volume across urban areas. Drivers of garden diversity and structure are complex, reflecting the diversity of social, cultural, and socioeconomic characteristics of the householders who manage their gardens, as well as their predecessors. Here we investigate the woodiness of gardens, and focus on (1...

Exotic (nonnative) species are known to have a wide variety of impacts on native biota. One potential set of impacts that have been poorly studied are the effects of replacing native habitat-providing species with exotic ones, e.g. when native trees that compose a woodland are replaced by an exotic tree plantation. Here we develop a graphical model that can be used to explore how multiple taxon...

Mycorrhizal technology was applied for reclamation of saline wasteland of Indian Thar Desert. For this purpose an exotic tree species Acacia colie an endemic legume of Australia was selected. Studies revealed increased biomass production and nutrient uptake of Acacia collie by native AM fungi. Different AM fungi showed their variation towards response to this tree species. However, AM fungi res...

Impacts of human land use pose an increasing threat to global biodiversity. Resource managers must respond rapidly to this threat by assessing existing natural areas and prioritizing conservation actions across multiple spatial scales. Plant species richness is a useful measure of biodiversity but typically can only be evaluated on small portions of a given landscape. Modeling relationships bet...

The enemy release hypothesis, which posits that exotic species are less regulated by enemies than native species, has been well-supported in terrestrial systems but rarely tested in marine systems. Here, the enemy release hypothesis was tested in a marine system by excluding large enemies (>1.3 cm) in dock fouling communities in Washington, USA. After documenting the distribution and abundance ...