caa a22 4500 605528071 CHVBK 20210128100811.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10531-014-0814-3 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10531-014-0814-3 The response of plant community diversity to alien invasion: evidence from a sand dune time series [Elektronische Daten] [Silvia Vecchio, Leonardo Pizzo, Gabriella Buffa] This study examines the process of invasion of coastal dunes in north-eastern Italy along a 60-year time series considering alien attributes (origin, residence time, invasive status, and growth form strategy) and habitat properties (species richness, diversity and evenness, proportion of aliens, and proportion of focal species). Vegetation changes through time were investigated in four sandy coastal habitats, using a fine-scale diachronic approach that compared vegetation data collected by use of the same procedure, in four time periods, from the 1950s to 2011. Our analysis revealed an overall significant decline of species richness over the last six decades. Further, both the average number of species per plot and the mean focal species proportion were proved to be negatively affected by the increasing proportion of alien species at plot level. The severity of the impact, however, was found to be determined by a combination of species attributes, habitat properties, and human disturbance suggesting that alien species should be referred to as "passengers” and not as "drivers” of ecosystem change. Passenger alien species are those which take advantage of disturbances or other changes to which they are adapted but that lead to a decline in native biodiversity. Their spread is facilitated by widespread anthropogenic environmental alterations, which create new, suitable habitats, and ensure human-assisted dispersal, reducing the distinctiveness of plant communities and inducing a process of biotic homogenization. Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht, 2014 Alien species nationallicence Anthropogenic pressure nationallicence Biotic homogenization nationallicence Coastal sand dune nationallicence Habitat properties nationallicence Time series nationallicence Vecchio Silvia Centre for Estuarine and Marine Studies, DAIS, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Castello 2737b, 30122, Venice, Italy aut Pizzo Leonardo Centre for Estuarine and Marine Studies, DAIS, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Castello 2737b, 30122, Venice, Italy aut Buffa Gabriella Centre for Estuarine and Marine Studies, DAIS, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Castello 2737b, 30122, Venice, Italy aut Biodiversity and Conservation Springer Netherlands 24/2(2015-02-01), 371-392 0960-3115 24:2<371 2015 24 10531 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0814-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0814-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Vecchio Silvia Centre for Estuarine and Marine Studies, DAIS, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Castello 2737b, 30122, Venice, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Pizzo Leonardo Centre for Estuarine and Marine Studies, DAIS, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Castello 2737b, 30122, Venice, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Buffa Gabriella Centre for Estuarine and Marine Studies, DAIS, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Castello 2737b, 30122, Venice, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Biodiversity and Conservation Springer Netherlands 24/2(2015-02-01), 371-392 0960-3115 24:2<371 2015 24 10531