Fine Scale Patterns and Drivers of Plant Species Richness on a Sub-Antarctic Island

Abstract

Aims

Cold environments, such as polar systems, are highly vulnerable to global change drivers such as climate change and invasive species. Therefore, it is essential to assess what drives the diversity of native and invasive species in these systems.

Location

We investigated what drives native and alien plant species richness on sub-Antarctic Marion Island and determined the scale-dependence of these drivers.

Methods

Native and alien plant species richness was surveyed at “small” (1 m²) and “large” (9 m²) sampling grains. Difference in richness between the two sampling grains was calculated to assess how local turnover contributes to species assemblage. The factors driving richness at both grains, and the differences in richness between the two grains, were analysed using simultaneous auto-regressive models. Drivers related to energy and environmental heterogeneity were correlated with native richness, whilst drivers related to productivity were related to alien richness.

Results

Biotic interactions with a cushion plant facilitated native richness, but restricted alien richness at low elevations. Further, some drivers of richness depended on spatial grain. Native richness was positively related to northness at large, but not small grain size, suggesting that higher northness increases local turnover at a grain size > 1 m². On the other hand, topographical wetness index (TWI) boosted native richness at small but not large grains, implying that competition for water limits coexistence at low TWI (i.e., low moisture availability) only at small grain. Differences in native species richness between large and small grain sizes were more pronounced at low elevations, suggesting higher compositional heterogeneity at low altitudes.

Conclusions

Our study highlights that drivers of plant species richness in a polar ecosystem differ between native and alien plant species. Additionally, the effects of some drivers on richness differ between sampling grains, and considering these differences provides insight into drivers of local patterns of species assemblage.