Decline in alien plant species turnover among geographically isolated mountains with ropeway corridors

Anthropogenic corridors facilitate alien invasions from low to high elevations in mountains. While native plant assemblages generally show a large elevational turnover to alpine species, alien plant assemblages at high elevations seem to consist of only generalist species with broad tolerances, resu...

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Main Authors: Asuka Koyama, Chika Egawa, Munemitsu Akasaka
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Global Ecology and Conservation
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989424004864
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author Asuka Koyama
Chika Egawa
Munemitsu Akasaka
author_facet Asuka Koyama
Chika Egawa
Munemitsu Akasaka
author_sort Asuka Koyama
collection DOAJ
description Anthropogenic corridors facilitate alien invasions from low to high elevations in mountains. While native plant assemblages generally show a large elevational turnover to alpine species, alien plant assemblages at high elevations seem to consist of only generalist species with broad tolerances, resulting in a nested structure of lowlands. These may cause homogeneous alien plant assemblages even in geographically isolated higher elevations, thereby undermining the alpine flora uniqueness. We focused on ropeway corridors that may facilitate alien invasions up long elevational gradients from lowlands, and examined the followings on 14 mountains across Japan: Are alien plant assemblages at high elevations accessible by ropeways formed as a subset of lowland alien species? and Are alien plant assemblages homogeneous among isolated higher elevations? We analyzed species richness and spatial turnover of alien and native species at the lower and upper ends of ropeways, as well as the effects of geographical and climatic factors on the spatial turnover and alien species’ presence probability at upper ends. Alien species richness decreased with elevation, whereas native species richness did not. The degree of spatial turnover of alien species was lower than that of native species, especially at upper ends, and was not affected by coordinal distance, unlike native species. The alien species’ presence probability at the upper ends was influenced by that at the lower ends. Our results highlight that homogeneous alien plant assemblages are formed across isolated higher elevations with ropeways. Strengthening the management of lowland alien species pools is necessary to conserve mountain biodiversity.
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spelling doaj-art-4033e9d254584e46a8d218dff893f39c2024-12-16T05:36:06ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942024-12-0156e03282Decline in alien plant species turnover among geographically isolated mountains with ropeway corridorsAsuka Koyama0Chika Egawa1Munemitsu Akasaka2Center for Biodiversity and Climate Change, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8687, Japan; Corresponding author.Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8604, JapanInstitute of Global Innovation Research, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Tokyo 183-8509, JapanAnthropogenic corridors facilitate alien invasions from low to high elevations in mountains. While native plant assemblages generally show a large elevational turnover to alpine species, alien plant assemblages at high elevations seem to consist of only generalist species with broad tolerances, resulting in a nested structure of lowlands. These may cause homogeneous alien plant assemblages even in geographically isolated higher elevations, thereby undermining the alpine flora uniqueness. We focused on ropeway corridors that may facilitate alien invasions up long elevational gradients from lowlands, and examined the followings on 14 mountains across Japan: Are alien plant assemblages at high elevations accessible by ropeways formed as a subset of lowland alien species? and Are alien plant assemblages homogeneous among isolated higher elevations? We analyzed species richness and spatial turnover of alien and native species at the lower and upper ends of ropeways, as well as the effects of geographical and climatic factors on the spatial turnover and alien species’ presence probability at upper ends. Alien species richness decreased with elevation, whereas native species richness did not. The degree of spatial turnover of alien species was lower than that of native species, especially at upper ends, and was not affected by coordinal distance, unlike native species. The alien species’ presence probability at the upper ends was influenced by that at the lower ends. Our results highlight that homogeneous alien plant assemblages are formed across isolated higher elevations with ropeways. Strengthening the management of lowland alien species pools is necessary to conserve mountain biodiversity.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989424004864Beta diversityBiological invasionElevationMountainNestednessTurnover
spellingShingle Asuka Koyama
Chika Egawa
Munemitsu Akasaka
Decline in alien plant species turnover among geographically isolated mountains with ropeway corridors
Global Ecology and Conservation
Beta diversity
Biological invasion
Elevation
Mountain
Nestedness
Turnover
title Decline in alien plant species turnover among geographically isolated mountains with ropeway corridors
title_full Decline in alien plant species turnover among geographically isolated mountains with ropeway corridors
title_fullStr Decline in alien plant species turnover among geographically isolated mountains with ropeway corridors
title_full_unstemmed Decline in alien plant species turnover among geographically isolated mountains with ropeway corridors
title_short Decline in alien plant species turnover among geographically isolated mountains with ropeway corridors
title_sort decline in alien plant species turnover among geographically isolated mountains with ropeway corridors
topic Beta diversity
Biological invasion
Elevation
Mountain
Nestedness
Turnover
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989424004864
work_keys_str_mv AT asukakoyama declineinalienplantspeciesturnoveramonggeographicallyisolatedmountainswithropewaycorridors
AT chikaegawa declineinalienplantspeciesturnoveramonggeographicallyisolatedmountainswithropewaycorridors
AT munemitsuakasaka declineinalienplantspeciesturnoveramonggeographicallyisolatedmountainswithropewaycorridors