1 Citation 140 Views 4 Downloads
Ecological release from herbivory due to chemical novelty is commonly
predicted to facilitate biological invasions by plants, but has not been
tested on a community scale. We used metabolomics based on mass
spectrometry molecular networks to assess the novelty of foliar secondary
chemistry of 15 invasive plant species compared to 46 native species at a
site in eastern North America. Locally, invasive species were more
chemically distinctive than natives. Among the 15 invasive species, the
more chemically distinct were less preferred by insect herbivores and less
browsed by deer. Finally, an assessment of invasion frequency in 2,505
forest plots in the Atlantic coastal plain revealed that, regionally,
invasive species that were less preferred by insect herbivores, less
browsed by white-tailed deer, and chemically distinct relative to the
native plant community occurred more frequently in survey plots. Our
results suggest that chemically-mediated release from herbivores
contributes to many successful invasions.
140 views reported since publication in 2020.