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SPCIS: Standardized Plant Community with Introduced Status database
Laís Petri1, Evelyn M Beaury2, Jeffrey Corbin3
1School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Ecology
|December 9, 2022
Summary
Biological invasions are complex, with not all introduced species becoming invasive. Understanding invasive plant impacts requires considering species, location, and environmental conditions, using macroecological data.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Macroecology
- Invasive Species Biology
Background:
- Global plant species movement leads to introductions, but invasion dynamics vary significantly.
- Understanding macroecological patterns of biological invasions is limited by data availability and community-level richness.
- Invasive success depends on species traits, abundance, and recipient community characteristics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To address limitations in macroecological invasion research by creating a comprehensive database.
- To enable macro-scale analyses of native plant communities and their interactions with invasive species.
Main Methods:
- Leveraged quantitative plant community surveys across the USA.
- Integrated and harmonized nine existing datasets.
- Developed the Standardized Plant Community with Introduced Status (SPCIS) database.
Main Results:
- The SPCIS database includes 14,056 taxa from 83,391 sampling units across all U.S. states and Puerto Rico.
- 52.6% of sampling units contain at least one introduced plant species.
- Provides comparable data on plant occurrence, abundance, and native status.
Conclusions:
- The SPCIS database is a valuable resource for macroecological research on biological invasions.
- Facilitates answering large-scale questions about invasive plants and native communities.
- Data are publicly available for research use.
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