Experimental test of the Invasional Meltdown Hypothesis: an exotic herbivore facilitates an exotic plant, but the plant does not reciprocally facilitate the herbivore

摘要

Ecosystems with multiple exotic species may be affected by facilitative invader interactions, which could lead to additional invasions (invasional meltdown hypothesis). Experiments show that one-way facilitation favours exotic species and observational studies suggest that reciprocal facilitation among exotic species may lead to an invasional meltdown. We conducted a mesocosm experiment to determine whether reciprocal facilitation occurs in wetland communities.