Plasticity-Mediated Persistence in New and Changing Environments

Table 2

Important review papers, meta-analyses, or large-scale experiments on plasticity and invasive success.

Species; type	Number of species	Overall results	Reference
Plants	79 native-invasive species comparisons	Trend for greater plasticity in invaders but better performance in natives; plasticity favoured better performance in disturbed environments.	[49]
Plants	5 native-invasive species comparisons	Trend of higher plasticity for invaders, under resource limitation.	[50]
Plants	10 invasive-ancestral population comparisons	In 6 of 10 cases, invaders were more plastic than their progenitors.	[47]
Plants	7 native-invasive species comparisons	Species relatedness was a better predictor of plasticity than invasiveness.	[158]
Plants	75 invasive-native or invasive-noninvasive species comparisons	Invasive species were on average more plastic, but this was not always associated with a fitness benefit.	[54]
Plants	35 invasive-native or invasive-noninvasive conspecific species pairs	Invasive species were, on average, as plastic as their conspecifics.	[159]
Plants	211 species with different levels of invasiveness	The most widespread invasive species were also the most plastic, increasing biomass with resource abundance.	[44]
Plants	12 invasive and 12 native species in shrub community	Invaders on average displayed both robustness to poor environments and increased plasticity under favourable environments.	[160]
Plants	330 invasive and 959 native flowering plants	On average invaders had shifted their flowering time with climate change while natives had not.	[161]
Insects	2 invasive and 4 native species	No difference in the extent of plasticity, but natives performed better under cool acclimation and invaders performed better under warm acclimation.	[162]
Vertebrates	???	An extensive review on the ways species have coped with urban environments, including behavioural plasticity.	[77]
Birds	39 successfully and unsuccessfully introduced species	Larger relative brain size associated with invasive success.	[118]
Birds	69 species, 501 introduction attempts	Larger relative brain size associated with invasive success.	[119]
Birds	196 species, 646 introduction attempts	Larger relative brain size associated with increased innovation and invasive success.	[120]
Birds	202 species, 832 introduction attempts	Larger relative brain size and broader ecological niches associated with invasive success.	[122]
Mammals	100 species, 513 introduction attempts	Relative brain size important predictor of invasive success.	[121]