Disentangling invasiveness and invasibility during invasion in synthesized grassland communities

•   An experiment with synthesized grassland communities was performed to identify plant traits that contribute to invasiveness and community traits that promote invasibility, and to study the relationship between, and the relative importance of, invasiveness and invasibility. •   Eight perennial grass species were used both as invasible monocultures and as potential invaders in gaps in these monocultures. Invasion success in the establishment phase, and invader and monoculture traits were assessed. •   Invasion success expressed as germination correlated significantly with germination time (invader trait), light penetration in the gaps and N acquisition by the edge plants (monoculture traits). Success expressed as leaf length correlated with seed mass, germination time (invader traits) and light penetration. Forty-six per cent of the variation in germination was explained by invader identity and 8% by monoculture identity, whereas, for leaf length, they explained 15% and 18%, respectively. •   Regenerative traits (seed mass and germination time) correlated with invasiveness, and resource availability (light and nitrogen) with invasibility. The results suggest that species characteristics would largely determine the extent of an invasion event (number of seedlings), while the success of individual invaders (growth and survival) is determined by both species and ecosystem characteristics.