[GloNAF] Global Naturalized Alien Floras
Runtime: 2015 – 2018
Funding: Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
Description
The Global Alien Naturalized Floras (GloNAF) consortium has recently finished the first database on alien vascular plant species distributions worldwide. This database contains >13,000 alien plant species naturalized in at least one of >800 regions (countries, federal states, islands) which cover c. 83% of the terrestrial area of the world. The most widely distributed alien plant species worldwide is Common Sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus). GloNAF provides a wide range of opportunities to analyze the level of plant invasions, to quantify macroecological and phylogenetic patterns and to identify the main drivers of plant invasions. Interlinking naturalized species records with morphological trait data enables us to explore which traits increase the invasion success of naturalized species and why some families are overrepresented among the global set of naturalized species. In addition, exploring the phylogenetic structure of global alien plant distribution will provide us with crucial information on the role of evolutionary history in plant invasions.
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