BACKGROUND AND AIMS Non-native plant species are not restricted to lowlands, but increasingly invade high elevations. While we expected for both native and non-native species variability of plant functional traits due to the changing environmental conditions along elevational gradients, we additionally assumed that non-native species are characterized by a more acquisitive growth strategy, since traits reflecting such a strategy have been found to correlate with invasion success. Further, the typical lowland introduction of non-native species coming from multiple origins should lead to higher trait variability within populations of non-native species specifically at low elevations, and they might therefore occupy a larger total trait space. METHODS Along an elevational gradient ranging from 55 to 1925 m a.s.l. on Tenerife, we collected leaves from eight replicate individuals in eight evenly distributed populations of five native and six non-native forb species. In each population, we measured ten eco-morphological and leaf biochemical traits and calculated trait variability within each population and the total trait space occupied by native and non-native species. KEY RESULTS We found both positive (e.g. LDMC) and negative (e.g. leaf N) correlations with elevation for native species, but only few responses for non-native species. For non-native species, within-population variability of LDMC and SLA decreased with elevation, but increased for native species. The total trait space occupied by all non-native species was smaller than and a subset of that of native species. CONCLUSIONS We found little evidence that intra-specific trait variability is associated with the success of non-native species to spread towards higher elevations. Instead, for non-native species, our results indicate that intermediate trait values that meet the requirements of various conditions are favourable across the changing environmental conditions along elevational gradients. As a consequence, it might prevent non-native species from overcoming abruptly changing environmental conditions, e.g. when crossing the treeline.

中文翻译：

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加那利群岛特内里费岛本地和非本地植物物种沿海拔梯度的种内性状变异模式对比


背景和目的 非本地植物物种不仅限于低地，而且越来越多地侵入高海拔地区。虽然我们预计由于环境条件沿海拔梯度的变化，本地和非本地物种的植物功能性状会发生变化，但我们还假设非本地物种的特征是更具获取性的生长策略，因为反映这种策略的性状已经被发现与入侵成功相关。此外，来自多个来源的非本地物种的典型低地引入应导致非本地物种种群内更高的性状变异性，特别是在低海拔地区，因此它们可能占据更大的总性状空间。方法沿着特内里费岛 55 米至 1925 米的海拔梯度，我们从 5 个本地草本植物和 6 个非本地草本植物的 8 个均匀分布群体中的 8 个重复个体采集了叶子。在每个种群中，我们测量了十个生态形态和叶子生化性状，并计算了每个种群内的性状变异性以及本地和非本地物种占据的总性状空间。主要结果 我们发现本地物种与海拔高度存在正相关（例如 LDMC）和负相关（例如叶 N），但对于非本地物种只有很少的响应。对于非本地物种，LDMC 和 SLA 的种群内变异性随着海拔的升高而降低，但对于本地物种则增加。所有非本地物种占据的总性状空间小于本地物种，并且是本地物种的子集。结论 我们发现几乎没有证据表明种内性状变异与非本地物种向更高海拔地区的成功传播有关。 相反，对于非本地物种，我们的结果表明，满足各种条件要求的中间性状值在沿海拔梯度变化的环境条件下是有利的。因此，它可能会阻止非本地物种克服突然变化的环境条件，例如在穿越林线时。