Publications by authors named "T L Fristoe"
Article Synopsis
- Darwin's naturalization conundrum involves two conflicting ideas about whether alien species related to native species are more likely to thrive in new areas.
- A study of over 219,000 native and 9,500 naturalized plant species revealed that at higher latitudes, naturalized aliens are more closely related to native species, suggesting they adapt better to harsher climates.
- Human activity has worsened this trend by favoring alien species that are less related to natives in warmer, drier regions, highlighting the importance of considering both climate and human impact when studying this topic.
Plant introductions outside their native ranges by humans have led to substantial ecological consequences. While we have gained considerable knowledge about intercontinental introductions, the distribution and determinants of intracontinental aliens remain poorly understood. Here, we studied naturalized (i.
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- Human activities are causing species to move and establish in new areas, with some regions providing more successful alien species than others.
- The evolutionary imbalance hypothesis explains that differences in species fitness across biogeographic areas affect how well these species adapt when introduced to new environments.
- Our findings show that successful alien species often come from biodiverse regions and share characteristics with cultivated plants, indicating that evolutionary factors influence species' movements and human selection.
Article Synopsis
- Darwin's naturalization hypothesis suggests that successful alien species are distantly related to native plants, while the pre-adaptation hypothesis predicts the opposite.
- The study tested these hypotheses by examining the relationship between alien species introductions and their phylogenetic distance to native flora in Southern Africa.
- Results showed that while distant relatives are more likely to be introduced, closely related species tend to naturalize better, and distant relatives can become invasive once naturalized, indicating different dynamics at each stage of invasion.
Article Synopsis
- The study analyzes the impact of naturalized plant species on the uniqueness of regional floras across 658 global regions, revealing significant taxonomic and phylogenetic homogenization due to these alien plants.
- It highlights that the natural decline in similarity among floras as geographic distance increases is lessened by the presence of naturalized species, with climate similarity further driving floristic homogenization.
- The research suggests that historical relationships and current administrative ties between regions increase plant exchange, posing a threat to the uniqueness of regional floras, and warns that without better biosecurity, globalization will continue to diminish floristic diversity worldwide.