Abstract
In this study we analyzed patterns of native and exotic species richness in the urban flora of Brussels (Belgium) using a coarse-scale systematic sampling grid of 1 km2. The observed correlation between native and exotic richness within the grid cells sampled was then compared to the results of an adequate null model assuming no species interactions. In addition, ordinary least-squares and quantile regressions were used to analyze the relationship between the ratio of exotics to natives and the proportion of densely built up areas in each cell. Though the results obtained conform to the Eltonian expectation that exotic species preferably invade areas of low native species diversity, traditional niche-filling mechanisms seems inadequate to explain the observed pattern. Rather, aliens simply tend to have different environmental requirements than natives.
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Acknowledgments
Financial support for this work was provided by the Brussels Institute for Environment Management (IBGE-BIM) in the framework of the research project ‘Information and survey network on the biodiversity in Brussels’. We thank two anonymous referees and Daniel Simberloff for their helpful comments on previous versions of this paper.
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Ricotta, C., Godefroid, S. & Rocchini, D. Patterns of native and exotic species richness in the urban flora of Brussels: rejecting the ‘rich get richer’ model. Biol Invasions 12, 233–240 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-009-9445-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-009-9445-0