Plant Diversity最新文献

{"title":"Niche evolution and asymmetric diversification in elm species (Ulmaceae).","authors":"Xin Yan, Enze Li, Xingyong Cui, Liangcheng Zhao, Wenpan Dong","doi":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.011","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.011","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Global patterns of species diversity are highly heterogeneous, and even within the same evolutionary lineage, species richness can differ markedly. Understanding the mechanisms underlying such disparities remains a central question in evolutionary biology and biogeography. Here, we investigate the evolutionary drivers of asymmetric diversity and distribution patterns in Ulmaceae by integrating molecular phylogenetics, fossil evidence, climatic niche analyses, and biogeographic reconstructions. We reconstructed a time-calibrated, species-level phylogeny encompassing 86.21% of extant Ulmaceae species and incorporating 61 fossil taxa. Phylogenetic analyses supported the division of Ulmaceae into a temperate clade and a tropical clade, which differ substantially in species richness, climatic niche characteristics, and geographic distributions. The temperate clade exhibited strong climatic niche conservatism combined with a broader niche breadth, enabling repeated intercontinental dispersal and geographic expansion across the Northern Hemisphere since the Late Cretaceous. In contrast, the tropical clade shows more constrained niche evolution and limited dispersal capacity, remaining largely restricted to low-latitude tropical regions and exhibiting lower species richness. Fossil-integrated analyses suggest that Ulmaceae originated in northern temperate regions during the Late Cretaceous and experienced extensive intercontinental exchanges during the Paleogene, particularly via the Bering and North Atlantic land bridges. Diversification-rate analyses indicated that net diversification rates in both clades remained relatively stable through time. This pattern suggested that long-term differences in species richness were better explained by early climatic niche divergence and contrasting biogeographic histories, rather than by temporal shifts in diversification rates. Our study highlights the critical role of fossil integration in revealing deep-time evolutionary processes that shape modern plant diversity under long-term climatic change, and provides a framework applicable to many other extant lineages with similar distribution patterns.</p>","PeriodicalId":20224,"journal":{"name":"Plant Diversity","volume":"48 4","pages":"704-719"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13424180/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148654363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Determinants of herbivory on seedlings in a subtropical forest: Insights from plant apparency, Janzen-Connell effects, and functional traits.","authors":"Gang Zhou, Daniel F Petticord, Yao-Zhan Xu, Yuan-Zhi Qin, Biao Dong, Xiu-Juan Qiao, Ming-Xi Jiang","doi":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.009","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Herbivory is widely known to play a critical role in structuring plant communities. However, much less is known about what factors determine herbivory in forest ecosystems. Here, we monitored herbivory damage on more than 2000 seedlings in a subtropical forest (2022 and 2023), to identify the key biotic drivers of interspecific variation in seedling herbivory. We found a positive correlation between seedling height and herbivory, evidence for the \"plant apparency\" hypothesis. Both increasing proportion of herbivory on local conspecifics and conspecific adult density were associated with higher herbivory on focal seedlings, evidence for the Janzen-Connell hypothesis. Interestingly, interactions with ants, as an example of interspecific mutualisms, were found to increase herbivory damage, while decrease seedling mortality in the same research system, highlighting the pivotal role of biotic mutualisms in mediating plant-herbivore interactions. Furthermore, leaf functional traits accounted for the greatest proportion of variance in seedling herbivory, indicating that they served as the primary determinant regulating herbivory pressure at the seedling stage. Overall, our study provides insight into the intricate interplay of seedling height, Janzen-Connell effect and functional traits in determining seedling herbivory and consequently assembly of forest ecosystems. These findings advance our understanding of subtropical forest community dynamics and provide empirical support for evidence-based conservation strategies in such ecosystems.</p>","PeriodicalId":20224,"journal":{"name":"Plant Diversity","volume":"48 5","pages":"927-935"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13615788/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149064044","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scale-dependent evidence for the abundant-center hypothesis and underlying mechanisms.","authors":"Jingyue Huang, Dingliang Xing","doi":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Whether species are more abundant near the center of their distribution has been intensively debated. Previous studies have largely focused on local sampling units, often overlooking the inherent scale-dependence of ecological patterns. Here, we examine how sampling grain influences the relationship between species abundance and distance to a species' distributional centroid, using inventory data of 212 tree species from the USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis program (FIA). We found scale-dependent support for the abundant-center hypothesis. At the fine spatial grain of individual FIA plots, positive and negative abundance-distance relationships were roughly balanced, with the mean regression slope approaching zero. This pattern reversed at coarser grains (> 0.5°), where the odds of detecting a negative trend more than doubled and the mean regression slope became significantly negative. Additionally, we identified niche overlap as a key factor constraining species abundance at smaller grains, with its impact diminishing at larger scales. Our results underscore the necessity of incorporating biotic interactions in fine-grain species abundance and distribution modeling. Conversely, traditional climate envelope models based on abiotic variables may effectively capture abundance patterns at coarser grains. This scale-explicit perspective helps reconcile previous inconsistent findings and advances our understanding of how ecological processes structure species distributions across scales.</p>","PeriodicalId":20224,"journal":{"name":"Plant Diversity","volume":"48 5","pages":"943-951"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13615776/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149063880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scaling and stoichiometry of seed nitrogen and phosphorus across Chinese grasslands.","authors":"Nan Hu, Li Zhang, Sean T Michaletz, Milos Simovic, Josep Peñuelas, Jordi Sardans, Haiyang Gong, Haiyan Bu, Zhiqiang Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) play crucial roles in early seedling establishment, influencing germination, survival, and overall performance. However, large-scale multispecies seed element survey data are extremely scarce, and studies on the N, P concentrations and N:P ratios as well as scaling relationships of N and P in seeds remain limited. To examine the N versus P scaling relationship and N:P stoichiometry in seeds, we conducted a large-scale survey and collected 1652 seed samples from 446 species in 51 families spanning 236 sites across the Chinese grasslands, including typical steppe, desert steppe, and alpine meadow. We found that the arithmetic means of seed N and P concentrations and N:P ratios were 28.95 ± 0.32 mg/g, 4.26 ± 0.05 mg/g, and 7.24 ± 0.07, respectively. Seed N, P concentrations and N:P ratios varied across different plant groups and grassland types. For example, N-fixers had the highest N, P concentrations and N:P ratios across plant groups. Among the grassland types, alpine meadow displayed the highest N and P concentrations but the lowest N:P ratios. Using a recent bootstrapping approach to resolve data imbalance, the overall seed N vs. P scaling exponent was 0.75, supporting the growth rate hypothesis. We also detected strong phylogenetic signals in these traits. After accounting for phylogeny, the scaling exponent in independently evolving lineages was 0.66. These findings highlight how both environment and evolutionary history regulate seed nutrient allocation, advancing our understanding of plant reproductive strategies and providing key parameters for modelling early plant growth.</p>","PeriodicalId":20224,"journal":{"name":"Plant Diversity","volume":"48 4","pages":"782-790"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13424182/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148653682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Divergence in plant water relations mediates the clear niche differentiation of two congeneric desert shrub species.","authors":"Chi Zhang, Guang-You Hao, Chun-Yang Duan, Jing Zhang, Ben-Feng Yin, Yuan-Ming Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Desert plants, despite overall well adapted to drought, exhibit considerable inter-specific differentiation of micro-habitats and variation in adaptive characteristics in the generally much water-limited yet spatially heterogeneous water regimes. Investigating the interplay between fine-scale spacial variation of environmental water regime and inter-specific differences in water-related physiology can provide an important basis for understanding the functional diversity and co-existence of desert plants. Here, we addressed this question by taking advantage of the remarkable niche differentiation of two dominant shrub species, <i>Haloxylon ammodendron</i> occupying the inter-dune lowlands and <i>H</i>. <i>persicum</i> colonizing the sand dunes in Gurbantunggut Desert of Northwest China. We precisely quantified the locations of each individual of the two congeneric species in transects established across the inter-dune lowland to dune crest landscape, measured soil water contents at different transect positions, and investigated water-related physiological traits of each individual. We found that the clear niche differentiation between the two sister species was paralleled by divergences in a suite of water-related functional traits. Particularly, such divergence indicates a clear trade-off between efficient water acquisition and drought tolerance. Higher hydraulic efficiency in <i>H</i>. <i>persicum</i> contributed to greater competitiveness in the sand dunes with relatively high soil water availability. In contrast, greater hydraulic safety and higher tissue water storage capacity in <i>H. ammodendron</i> contributed to its endurance in the more drought stressed inter-dune lowlands. Our findings indicate that variation of fine-scale soil moisture due to local factors like topography is a critical driver in shaping the species diversity in the heterogeneous environments of deserts.</p>","PeriodicalId":20224,"journal":{"name":"Plant Diversity","volume":"48 5","pages":"1038-1050"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13615790/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149063994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Local adaptation sustains genetic differentiation between two varieties of Chinese walnut (<i>Juglans cathayensis</i>) despite extensive hybridization in subtropical China.","authors":"Wan Hu, Caixia Han, Li Li, Chunhua Zang, Runzi Li, Hong Nie, Jianbo Nie, Yong Shi, Chen Feng, Jie Zhang, Yixuan Kou, Zhiyong Zhang, Dengmei Fan, Danqi Li","doi":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding how natural selection sustains genetic differentiation despite ongoing hybridization remains a central question in evolutionary biology. Here, we integrated range-wide whole-genome resequencing data and ecological niche modeling to elucidate the evolutionary history, local adaptation, and hybridization patterns of <i>Juglans cathayensis</i>, a walnut species widely distributed across subtropical China. Our analyses revealed that Chinese walnut comprised two genetic clusters corresponding to its two recognized varieties, which were further subdivided into three lineages: the East lineage, consisting exclusively of <i>J. cathayensis</i> var. <i>formosana</i> individuals; and the West and Admixed lineages, comprising genetically pure and admixed individuals of <i>J. cathayensis</i> var. <i>cathayensis</i>, respectively. The admixed populations formed a hybrid zone in the ecotone between the East and West lineages. Divergence between the East and West lineages dates to the Middle Pliocene, with persistent bidirectional gene flow until the mid-Pleistocene, likely driven by long-term local adaptation to niche differences between eastern and western China. Genomic regions of differentiation may result from divergent selection under gene flow and divergent sorting of ancient polymorphisms. Moreover, we identified positively selected genes and environment-associated loci involved in ecological adaptation, underscoring their role in promoting intraspecific differentiation. Bayesian genomic cline analysis detected limited introgression of adaptive loci in the hybrid zone, suggesting that natural selection sustains divergence in genomic regions associated with local adaptation, while neutral loci are homogenized through hybridization. Together, these findings provide novel insights into the evolutionary mechanisms shaping plant diversity in subtropical China, a region recognized as an evolutionary cradle.</p>","PeriodicalId":20224,"journal":{"name":"Plant Diversity","volume":"48 4","pages":"734-746"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13424987/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148654232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Is beta diversity higher in seed plants with larger body sizes?","authors":"Hong Qian","doi":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Beta diversity is a scalar linking local (alpha) with regional (gamma) species diversity. Understanding patterns of beta diversity is central to ecology and biogeography. It is suggested that beta diversity should be higher for organisms with larger body sizes, which is called the beta diversity-body size hypothesis, because organisms with smaller body sizes are considered to be better dispersers and thus would be expected to have lower rates of species turnover between areas, compared with organisms with larger body sizes. Using a comprehensive database of seed plants in North America, I test this hypothesis. Beta diversity was measured by Simpson's dissimilarity index. Seed plants were divided into three categories (trees, shrubs and herbs), which represent large, intermediate and small body sizes, respectively. While beta diversity in shrubs is higher than that in herbs, supporting the hypothesis, beta diversity in trees is lower than that in shrubs and herbs, contrary to the hypothesis. These findings hold true regardless of whether North America is considered as a whole or different latitudinal zones are considered separately. Thus, the overall finding of this study only partially supports the hypothesis. This study also shows that in all the three groups of plants, beta diversity decreases with increasing latitude, and is more strongly related with geographic distance than with climatic distance.</p>","PeriodicalId":20224,"journal":{"name":"Plant Diversity","volume":"48 3","pages":"629-634"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13250293/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148227479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Tianshan Mountains as a biogeographic barrier driving North-South divergence and local adaptation in <i>Typha laxmannii</i>.","authors":"Chichi Zhao, Lei Huang, Huijun Wang, Xinwei Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Tianshan Mountains constitute a major biogeographic barrier in Arid Central Asia, yet their impact on plant genomic divergence and adaptation remains poorly understood. Using <i>Typha laxmannii</i>, a wetland species distributed across this range, we generated a chromosome-scale genome and performed integrated population genomic and environmental analyses of 126 individuals from 31 sites. Our results revealed a clear north-south genetic split demarcated by the Tianshan Mountains, with gene flow restricted since divergence approximately 88.1 thousand years ago (Kya), a pattern further reinforced by post-Pleistocene demographic contraction. Northern and southern populations evolved distinct adaptive signatures in response to their local environments, including differentiation in genes associated with stress response, transcriptional regulation, and flowering time. Beyond single loci, adaptation also acts on large genomic blocks: a ∼2.5 Mb parallel sweep (∼91 Kya) contains a linked block of stress-response genes shared across the species, suggesting a range-wide response to intensified continentality and repeated glacial-interglacial aridification following population decline (∼100 Kya) but preceding the north-south split. In contrast, a ∼3 Mb divergent sweep (∼85 Kya) harbours northern-specific alleles related to glutathione metabolism, zeatin biosynthesis, and transcriptional regulation, likely enhancing tolerance to extreme winter cooling and freeze-thaw cycles under a strengthened Siberian High after divergence. Together, our findings establish a \"spatio-temporal environmental sorting\" model of biodiversity, providing a critical framework for understanding how the topography and climate of the Arid Central Asian mountains promote evolutionary novelty and safeguard genetic resilience in the face of ongoing global climate change.</p>","PeriodicalId":20224,"journal":{"name":"Plant Diversity","volume":"48 4","pages":"720-733"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13424383/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148653761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Herbivore defense syndromes differ between native and invasive plant species.","authors":"Yu-Mei Sun, Feng He, Yi-Wen Zhao, Curtis C Daehler, Ragan M Callaway, Xiao Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.02.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.02.009","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In their non-native ranges, invasive plant species may escape specialist herbivores and thus experience exclusive pressure from generalists. This is predicted to shape the defense strategies of successful non-native species, as proposed by the Shifting Defense Hypothesis. However, most research to date has quantified only limited sets of defense traits of non-native invasive plant species, and thus our understanding of their defense syndromes, which encompass suites of both physical and chemical traits, remains poorly understood. We evaluated a comprehensive array of leaf physicochemical traits, including quantitative structural defenses, qualitative chemical defenses, and nutritional properties, for 15 phylogenetically matched pairs of non-native species and native congeners co-occurring in abandoned farmland in China. We coupled this trait screening with assessments of herbivore damage in a common garden and laboratory larval growth assays using a generalist herbivore (<i>Spodoptera littoralis</i>; Lepidoptera). Non-native species experienced 50.8% less herbivory and reduced larval growth rate by 25.7%, relative to native congeners. This increase in resistance corresponded with a distinct defense syndrome: non-native species allocated more to broad spectrum, apparently qualitative, chemical defenses, exhibiting 43.1% higher phenolic concentrations, but less to quantitative structural defenses than natives. Hierarchical partitioning revealed that phenolics were the primary predictor of lower <i>Spodoptera</i> growth on non-native species, whereas leaf C content was the best predictor for lower <i>Spodoptera</i> growth on natives. We found differences in defense syndromes and strategies between non-native species and natives, and our findings were consistent with predictions of the Shifting Defense Hypothesis.</p>","PeriodicalId":20224,"journal":{"name":"Plant Diversity","volume":"48 5","pages":"906-914"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13615792/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149064003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Invasive plant richness and abundance synergistically amplify co-invasion success: Experimental evidence for invasional meltdown.","authors":"Yi Hu, Xiao Guo, Zhenwei Xu, Jingfeng Wang, Ruiqi Sun, Mingyan Li, Pengcheng Zhu, Karin M Kettenring, Hana Skálová, Weihua Guo","doi":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pld.2026.03.004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Co-invasion by multiple invasive species is becoming increasingly prevalent, yet the role of interactions among invasive species in shaping invasion success remains poorly understood. While invader abundance is known to facilitate establishment, the combined effects of invasive plant richness and abundance on invasion outcomes have rarely been tested experimentally. We established a fully factorial mesocosm experiment manipulating four levels of invasive plant richness (0, 1, 2, or 3 species) and abundance (0, 12, 24, 48 individuals) using three Asteraceae invaders-<i>Erigeron canadensis</i>, <i>Erigeron annuus</i>, and <i>Bidens pilosa</i>-within native plant communities. We found facilitative and neutral interactions among invaders generated non-additive (reversal) negative effects on native biomass, which intensified with increasing invader richness. Higher richness facilitated invasion success by modifying selection effects among invasive species-primarily through size-mediated mechanisms-that enhanced invasive biomass and strengthened suppression of native plants. Invasive richness altered soil nitrogen pools without promoting invasion success, but was associated with changes in soil microbial biomass carbon and litter decomposition that coincided with reduced native performance. Elevated invader abundance further promoted invasion success and interacted synergistically with richness to amplify invasion impacts, indicating that co-invasion severity may intensify under future scenarios of increasing propagule pressure. Overall, our findings provide experimental evidence for the invasional meltdown hypothesis and demonstrate how invasive plant richness and abundance jointly enhance invasion success. Our results further suggest that early management targeting low-abundance invaders may disrupt the synergistic effect between invasive plant richness and abundance and mitigate the impacts of multispecies co-invasion.</p>","PeriodicalId":20224,"journal":{"name":"Plant Diversity","volume":"48 5","pages":"915-926"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13615784/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149063324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}