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Native faunal communities depend on habitat from non-native plants in novel but not in natural ecosystems

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Abstract

Invasive non-native plants are a major driver of native biodiversity loss, yet native biodiversity can sometimes benefit from non-native species. Depending on habitat context, even the same non-native species can have positive and negative effects on biodiversity. Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus aggregate) is a useful model organism to better understand a non-native plant with conflicting impacts on biodiversity. We used a replicated capture-mark-recapture study across 11 consecutive seasons to examine the response of small mammal diversity and abundance to vegetation structure and density associated with non-native blackberry (R. anglocandicans) in native, hybrid and blackberry-dominated novel ecosystems in Australia. Across the three habitat types, increasing blackberry dominance had a positive influence on mammal diversity, while the strength and direction of this influence varied for abundance. At a microhabitat scale within hybrid and native habitat there were no significant differences in diversity, or the abundance of most species, between microhabitats where blackberry was absent versus dominant. In contrast, in novel ecosystems diversity and abundances were very low without blackberry, yet high (comparable to native ecosystems) within blackberry as it provided functionally-analogous vegetation structure and density to the lost native understory. Our results indicate the ecological functions of non-native plant species vary depending on habitat and need to be considered for management. Comparative studies such as ours that apply a standardized approach across a broad range of conditions at the landscape and habitat scale are crucial for guiding land managers on control options for non-native species (remove, reduce or retain and contain) that are context-sensitive and scale-dependent.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide (JGP), the Government of South Australia (JGP & SMC), Australian Geographic (JGP) and the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment (JGP & SMC). We gratefully acknowledge the support of all our fabulous field volunteers (especially Apu Kadam, Brian Matthews and Natalie Andrews) and generous land owner hosts (especially Della, Louise, Andrew and Liz), who made this research possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia

    Jasmin G. Packer, Steve Delean, José M. Facelli & Susan M. Carthew

  2. Transdisciplinary Lab, Department of Environmental Systems Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland

    Jasmin G. Packer & Christoph Kueffer

  3. Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Integrative Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland

    Christoph Kueffer

  4. Department of Primary Industries & Regions, Biosecurity SA, Adelaide, Australia

    Jane Prider

  5. Department of Environment, Natural Resources Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Water and Natural Resources, Adelaide, Australia

    Kirstin Abley

  6. Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia

    Susan M. Carthew

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  1. Jasmin G. Packer
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Correspondence to Jasmin G. Packer.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All applicable institutional and/or national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. Research was approved by the University of Adelaide Animal Ethics Committee (S-094-2007) and the South Australian Department for Environment and Heritage (U25562-1).

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Communicated by Péter Török.

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Packer, J.G., Delean, S., Kueffer, C. et al. Native faunal communities depend on habitat from non-native plants in novel but not in natural ecosystems. Biodivers Conserv 25, 503–523 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1059-0

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