DOI: 10.5061/dryad.866t1g20w
title: Invasive plants grow taller under experimental warming, but mediated effects of biotic interactions are species-specific

description: Understanding the responses of non-native plants to climate change while
 accounting for biotic interactions is key to predicting and mitigating
 future invasion risks. Non-native invasive plants may benefit from or
 decline in the face of climate change, relative to native competitors.
 Non-native plants might also suffer less than native plants from natural
 enemies such as herbivores, which could give non-natives a competitive
 advantage. However, we lack an understanding of how non-native plants will
 compete with native plants in a warming climate, while accounting for the
 effects of herbivore pressure. To test the potential interactions between
 warming, herbivore pressure and competition, we set up a common-garden
 experiment in Trondheim, Norway, using five non-native plants growing
 either alone or in competition with a native plant community. These plants
 were subjected to herbivore exclusion and artificial warming treatments,
 using open-top chambers. We found that under warming, three non-native
 species had greater biomass and all five species were taller than when
 grown without warming. Competition with native species reduced the biomass
 of three non-native species and herbivore exclusion resulted in taller
 plants for three non-native species. Furthermore, the native community was
 not affected by competition with any non-native plant except Centaurea
 montana, which resulted in lower native community biomass, suggesting that
 C. montana is likely to be the most detrimental of these non-native
 species to native communities. Competition with natives reduced the
 positive effects of warming on biomass for only one species, Alchemilla
 mollis. Our study strongly suggests that a warming climate may benefit
 invasive plants more than native plants, but for some species these
 effects will be mediated by biotic interactions in idiosyncratic ways,
 depending on the identity of both native and non-native species. This will
 present a challenge to predicting plant invasion success under climate
 change while accounting for biotic interactions.
description: # Invasive plants grow taller under experimental warming, but mediated
 effects of biotic interactions are species-specific
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.866t1g20w](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.866t1g20w) ## Description of the data and file structure ### Files and variables #### File: All\_data\_field\_experiment.csv **Description:** Missing values or variables not measured are blank cells. ##### Variables * Plot: 1 to 10 representing replicate blocks within experiment * Treatment: Four treatment types: c (control), w (warming), e (herbivore exclusion), we (warming + exclusion) * Species composition: Composition of species within a single pot. Ac, Am, Ct, Cm or Hm = initials of non-native plant in pot. N = native plant community. E.g. Ac = Arabis caucasica growing alone. Ac + N = A. caucasica growing with native competition comprising three native plant species. N = three native plants, no non-native plants present. * Species: Taxonomic name of species. Each row represents one species but multiple species may be present in a single pot (see 'Species composition') * Height (cm)_start: Height of plants at the beginning of the experiment in cm. * No. leaves_start: Number of leaves at the beginning of the experiment. * Length longest leaf (mm): Length of the longest leaf (mm) at the beginning of the experiment. * Width longest leaf (mm): Width of longest leaf (mm) at the beginning of the experiment. * No. leaves with herbivory_start: Number of leaves damaged by herbivory at the beginning of the experiment. * Proportion of leaf lost_1: Of the number of leaves damaged, the proportion of leaf lost for the first damaged leaf (only applicable if 1 or more leaves were damaged). * Proportion of leaf lost_2: Of the number of leaves damaged, the proportion of leaf lost for the second damaged leaf (only applicable if 2 or more leaves were damaged). * Proportion of leaf lost_3: Of the number of leaves damaged, the proportion of leaf lost for the third damaged leaf (only applicable if 3 or more leaves were damaged). * Proportion of leaf lost_4: Of the number of leaves damaged, the proportion of leaf lost for the fourth damaged leaf (only applicable if 4 leaves were damaged). * Damaged leaves: Notes on non-herbivory related leaf damage. * Height (cm)_end: Height of plant (cm) at the end of the experiment. * No. leaves_end(upto100): Number of leaves at the end of the experiment (counted up to 100). * No. leaves with herbivory_end: Number of leaves with herbivory damage at the end of the experiment. * Length longest leaf (mm)_end: Length of longest leaf (mm) at the end of the experiment. * Width longest leaf (mm)_end: Width of longest leaf (mm) at the end of the experiment. * Chewing_end: Presence of chewing damage (1 = yes, 0 = no). * Mining_end: Presence of leaf mining damage (1 = yes, 0 = no). * SapSucking_end: Presence of sap sucking damage (1 = yes, 0 = no). * Number_flowers_end: Number of flowers at the end of the experiment. * Proportion_leaves_damaged: Proportion of leaves damaged at the end of the experiment (from leaves counted up to 100). * Dry_biomass_g: Dry biomass of entire plant (minus largest leaf; g) or weight of the first bag if a plant was too big to fit into a single bag for drying. * Dry_biomass_2_g: If 2 or 3 bags were used the weight of the second bag is shown here (g). * Dry_biomass_3_g: If 3 bags were used the weight of the third bag is shown here (g). * Plant_biomass_g: Total plant biomass (sum of separate bags if multiple bags were used for a single plant; g). * Leaf_biomass_g: Biomass (g) of largest leaf. * Total_biomass_g: Total biomass of plant and largest leaf (g). * Leaf_surface_area(mm): Surface area of largest leaf. * Seed_grown: 'Seed' if grown from seed, 'wild' if collected from the wild as a seedling or ramet. * TMS4_T1_mean: Mean temperature (degress Celsius) measured by sensor 1 (roughly 6 cm below ground) of TMS logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe. NB; some plots had TMS loggers, some HOBO loggers and some both. * TMS4_T1_day_mean: Mean daytime temperature (degress Celsius) measured by sensor 1 (roughly 6 cm below ground) of TMS logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe. * TMS4_T1_night_mean: Mean nighttime temperature (degress Celsius) measured by sensor 1 (roughly 6 cm below ground) of TMS logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe. * TMS4_T2_mean: Mean temperature (degress Celsius) measured by sensor 2 (roughly 2 cm above ground) of TMS logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe. * TMS4_T2_day_mean: Mean daytime temperature (degress Celsius) measured by sensor 2 (roughly 2 cm above ground) of TMS logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe. * TMS4_T2_night_mean: Mean nighttime temperature (degress Celsius) measured by sensor 2 (roughly 2 cm above ground) of TMS logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe. * TMS4_T3_mean: Mean temperature (degress Celsius) measured by sensor 3 (roughly 15 cm above below ground) of TMS logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe. * TMS4_T3_day_mean: Mean daytime temperature (degress Celsius) measured by sensor 3 (roughly 15 cm above ground) of TMS logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe. * TMS4_T3_night_mean: Mean nighttime temperature (degress Celsius) measured by sensor 3 (roughly 15 cm above ground) of TMS logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe. * TMS4_Soil_moisture_mean: Mean soil moisture measured by TMS logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe. * TMS4_Soil_moisture_day_mean: Mean daytime soil moisture measured by TMS logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe. * TMS4_Soil_moisture_night_mean: Mean nighttime soil moisture measured by TMS logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe. * HOBO_mean: Mean temperature (degress Celsius) measured by HOBO logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe. * HOBO_day_mean: Mean daytime temperature (degress Celsius) measured by HOBO logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe. * HOBO_night_mean: Mean nighttime temperature (degress Celsius) measured by HOBO logger in plot for entire experimental timeframe.