Species and environmental characteristics point to flow regulation and drought as drivers of riparian plant invasion

Abstract

Aim: Many factors facilitate biological invasions, making it difficult to determine their relative importance, especially when relying on survey data that include confounded variables. Incorporating information about species characteristics can improve inferences drawn from species-environment relationships, which can inform management. We seek to understand why the abundance of exotic, and not native, terrestrial plants is higher in riparian wetlands most impacted by flow regulation. Location: River Murray, SE Australia. Methods: We use variance components analysis and hierarchical generalised linear models to examine whether the positive relationship between flow regulation and proporti..