Publication Date:
2024-03-22
Description:
Darwin’s naturalization conundrum describes two seemingly contradictory
hypotheses regarding whether alien species closely or distantly related to
native species should be more likely to naturalize in regional floras. Both
expectations have accumulated empirical support, and whether such apparent
inconsistency can be reconciled at the global scale is unclear. Here, using
219,520 native and 9,531 naturalized alien plant species across 487 globally
distributed regions, we found a latitudinal gradient in Darwin’s naturalization
conundrum. Naturalized alien plant species are more closely related to native
species at higher latitudes than they are at lower latitudes, indicating a greater
influence of preadaptation in harsher climates. Human landscape modification
resulted in even steeper latitudinal clines by selecting aliens distantly related
to natives in warmer and drier regions. Our results demonstrate that joint
consideration of climatic and anthropogenic conditions is critical to reconciling Darwin’s naturalization conundrum.
Repository Name:
National Museum of Natural History, Netherlands
Type:
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Format:
application/pdf
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