DOI: 10.5061/dryad.rjdfn2zpq
title: Relative cover and leaf economic traits for native and non-native plants across five U.S. ecoregions

description: Are non-native plants abundant because they are non-native, and have
 advantages over native plants, or because they possess ‘fast’ resource
 strategies, and have advantages in disturbed environments? This question
 is central to invasion biology but remains unanswered. We quantified the
 relative importance of resource strategy and origin in 69,441 plots across
 the conterminous United States containing 11,280 plant species. Non-native
 species had faster economic traits than native species in most plant
 communities (77%, 86%, and 82% of plots for leaf nitrogen concentration,
 specific leaf area, and leaf dry matter content). Non-native species also
 had distinct patterns of abundance, but these were not explained by their
 fast traits. Compared to functionally similar native species, non-native
 species (1) were more abundant in plains and deserts, indicating the
 importance of biogeographical origin, and less abundant in forested
 ecoregions, (2) were more abundant where co-occurring species had fast
 traits, e.g., due to disturbance, and (3) showed weaker signals of local
 environmental filtering. These results clarify the nature of plant
 invasion: Although non-native plants have consistently fast economic
 traits, other novel characteristics and processes likely explain their
 abundance and therefore impacts.
description: Plant cover data were compiled from multiple sources including
 state and federal land management agencies, which used a variety of
 methods for measuring plant cover within plots. See Petri <em>et
 al.</em> (2022) for details on data compilation. Plant growth form
 data were obtained from the USDA Plants database. Data from the TRY
 database (https://www.try-db.org/TryWeb/Home.php) included leaf nitrogen content, leaf dry matter content, and specific leaf area, and were averaged to the species level prior to being combined with plant cover datasets. Code used in associated analyses, described in Blumenthal <em>et al.</em> (2025), is available at: https://github.com/DiezJ/PAINLES-repository.
description: # Relative cover and leaf economic traits for native and non-native plants
 across five U.S. ecoregions Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.rjdfn2zpq](10.5061/dryad.rjdfn2zpq) ## Description of the
 data and file structure: This dataset contains eight data files, each one
 accompanied by a separate data dictionary for clarity. The files are
 available in comma-delimited format. They are a supplement to: Blumenthal
 et al. 2025, “Why are non-native plants successful? Consistently fast
 economic traits and novel origin jointly explain abundance across U.S.
 ecoregions.” New Phytologist. Data on plant cover, taxonomy, origin, and
 growth form were obtained from Petri *et al.* (2022), and combined with
 trait data from the TRY database (Kattge *et al.* 2020) as described in
 Blumenthal *et al.* (2025). Kattge J, Bönisch G, Díaz S, Lavorel S,
 Prentice IC, Leadley P, Tautenhahn S, Werner GD, Aakala T, Abedi M. *et
 al.* 2020. TRY plant trait database–enhanced coverage and open access.
 Global Change Biology 26(1): 119-188.  Petri L, Beaury EM, Corbin J, Peach
 K, Sofaer H, Pearse IS, Early R, Barnett DT, Ibáñez I, Peet RK, Schafale
 M, Wethworth TR, Vanderhorst JP, Zaya DN, Spyreas G, Bradley BA. 2022.
 SPCIS: Standardized Plant Community with Introduced Status database.
 *Ecology*: e3947-e3947. Missing values are indicated by “na.” ### Files
 and variables: #### File: PAINLES\_dat8\_region.csv
 **Description:** Dataset used for comparing leaf economic traits between
 native and non-native species at the ecoregion-scale. #### File:
 2origins\_leafN\_v3.csv **Description:** Dataset used for comparing leaf
 nitrogen content between native and non-native species at the plot-scale.
 #### File: 2origins\_LDMC\_v3.csv **Description:** Dataset used for
 comparing leaf dry matter content between native and non-native species at
 the plot-scale. #### File: 2origins\_SLA\_v3.csv **Description:** Dataset
 used for comparing specific leaf area between native and non-native
 species at the plot-scale. #### File: painles\_cover\_2024\_1Yr\_V2.csv
 **Description:** Dataset used for comparing abundance between native and
 non-native species, not including traits. #### File: dat.leafN.csv
 **Description:** Dataset used for comparing abundance between native and
 non-native species, including leaf nitrogen content of focal species and
 non-focal communities. #### File: dat.LDMC.csv **Description:** Dataset
 used for comparing abundance between native and non-native species,
 including leaf dry matter content of focal species and non-focal
 communities. #### File: dat.SLA.csv **Description:** Dataset used for
 comparing abundance between native and non-native species, including
 specific leaf area of focal species and non-focal communities. ##
 Code/software: Code used in associated analyses, described in Blumenthal
 *et al.* (2025), is available at:
 [https://github.com/DiezJ/PAINLES-repository](https://github.com/DiezJ/PAINLES-repository).