Role of alien species in vegetation succession - from local to global scales

Principle investigator: Karel Prach
Funding provider: Czech Science Foundation (GA ČR)
Grant number: 25-18351S
Duration: 2025-2027

Alien invasive species impact ecosystem diversity and functions, altering successional pathways in sites recovering from disturbance, but the factors underlying the invasion process remain largely unresolved, especially in relation to ecological succession. We aim to (1) identify and characterize alien plants colonizing disturbed successional habitats; (2) address how their participation during succession is determined by the landscape context and site environmental conditions; and (3) assess community invasibility based on changes in functional and phylogenetic diversity and ecological specialisation of successional vegetation. Using a unique dataset of vegetation records from various successional series collected in human-disturbed sites in the Czech Republic and Europe, and excerption of published data worldwide, we aim to identify large-scale patterns of invasive species behaviour and community invasibility during succession from local to global scales.