ARRIVING LATE DRIVERS

ARRIVING LATE DRIVERS

Invasion of plant communities by non-native (“exotic” or “alien”) species is largely recognized as one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide (Sala et al. An early arrival of this species at a site with low native species abundance is a scenario that could favour invasion. Our results showed that inhibitory priority effects created by natives can lower the risk of invasion by Senecio. When natives arrived later than Senecio, however, priority effects were weaker when legumes were part of the native community. The presence of legumes in the community did not favour invasion by Senecio. Senecio benefited more from arriving early than did the natives. The establishment success of Senecio strongly depended on its timing of arrival in a grassland community. We also investigated if the plant species origin (native or exotic) and the native community composition affected the benefit of arriving early and the cost of arriving late in the community. In a greenhouse experiment, we manipulated the timing of arrival of the exotic species ( Senecio) and the composition of the native community to test the influence of these factors on the productivity and N content of exotic and native species. before or after natives) and the composition of the native community being invaded affect (1) its capacity to invade a European grassland, (2) the performance of the native species, and (3) the direction and strength of priority effects.

The exotic South African ragwort ( Senecio inaequidens DC.) rapidly spread across Central Europe after its introduction, but we still do not know to what extent its timing of arrival in a plant community (i.e.

Arriving late