Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with North Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU)

U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Powell Center is offering a funding opportunity for research on “Developing a macroecological understanding of invasive plant impacts based on abundance and trait data.” The project will use a recent data compilation of invasive plant species to test how the abundances and functional traits of invaders and resident plant species underlie invasion impacts. To advance the study of plant invasion impacts, researchers will analyze 1) how rarity and traits influence the degree to which native plant species are impacted by invaders; 2) how invasions reshape the distribution of functional traits within communities; and 3) how invasions underlie taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic homogenization over space in both space and time, and ask whether invasions underlie homogenization of taxonomic, functions, and phylogenetic diversity. Working with a recently compiled dataset of trait and phylogenetic information for native and nonnative species from 48,000 plots across the US, researchers will use generalized linear mixed models and other approaches to determine how invasion influences community-weighted mean traits. Species invasions can reshape ecological communities, decreasing the abundance of some species while facilitating the success of others. Understanding which species are impacted by invasion can provide a foundation for anticipating the outcomes of novel species interactions under global change. Disproportionate impacts on rare species reduce biodiversity and increase extinction risk, and impacts on common and dissimilar species are more likely to affect ecosystem function and services. The phylogenetic and functional novelty of a non-native species can influence its establishment and abundance, its impacts on recipient species, and the degree to which it alters trait distributions and in turn ecosystem properties. Meta-analyses of invasive plant impacts have highlighted the need to study impacts along gradients of invader abundance and to incorporate species traits. A recently available data compilation will be used to test how the abundances and functional traits of invaders and residents underlie invasion impacts. Products will at least three publications advancing fundamental science and at least one that will address how to manage ecosystem impacts of plant invasions. Ongoing collaborations with federal and state land managers and planners will be used to inform on-the-ground management.