Economic use of plants is key to their naturalization success

This study investigates the relationship between economic use and naturalization success of seed plants. By combining global databases on economic uses (WEP) and naturalization (GloNAF), the researchers found that naturalization likelihood is 18 times higher for economic plants. Success is highest for plants used as animal food or for environmental purposes, and increases with the number of uses. Northern Hemisphere taxa are overrepresented among economic plants, with those from Asia showing greatest naturalization success. Regional naturalized floras show a higher percentage of economic plants than the global average, increasing towards the equator. Phylogenetic patterns in the naturalized flora reflect those in cultivated plants. The study highlights the importance of considering intentional introductions of economic plants when studying plant naturalization.

Mark van Kleunen, Xinyi Xu, Qiang Yang, Noëlie Maurel, Zhijie Zhang, Wayne Dawson, Franz Essl, Holger Kreft, Jan Pergl, Petr Pyšek, Patrick Weigelt, Dietmar Moser, Bernd Lenzner, Trevor S. Fristoe