The unseen invaders: introduced earthworms as drivers of change in plant communities in North American forests (a meta-analysis). Craven, D., Thakur, M. P., Cameron, E. K., Frelich, L. E., Beausejour, R., Blair, R. B., Blossey, B., Burtis, J., Choi, A., Davalos, A., Fahey, T. J., Fisichelli, N. A., Gibson, K., Handa, I. T., Hopfensperger, K., Loss, S. R., Nuzzo, V., Maerz, J. C., Sackett, T., Scharenbroch, B. C., Smith, S. M., Vellend, M., Umek, L. G., & Eisenhauer, N. Glob Chang Biol, 2016:1–10, 2016.
The unseen invaders: introduced earthworms as drivers of change in plant communities in North American forests (a meta-analysis) [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
Globally, biological invasions can have strong impacts on biodiversity as well as ecosystem functioning. While less conspicuous than introduced aboveground organisms, introduced belowground organisms may have similarly strong effects. Here, we synthesize for the first time the impacts of introduced earthworms on plant diversity and community composition in North American forests. We conducted a meta-analysis using a total of 645 observations to quantify mean effect sizes of associations between introduced earthworm communities and plant diversity, cover of plant functional groups, and cover of native and non-native plants. We found that plant diversity significantly declined with increasing richness of introduced earthworm ecological groups. While plant species richness or evenness did not change with earthworm invasion, our results indicate clear changes in plant community composition: cover of graminoids and non-native plant species significantly increased, and cover of native plant species (of all functional groups) tended to decrease, with increasing earthworm biomass. Overall, these findings support the hypothesis that introduced earthworms facilitate particular plant species adapted to the abiotic conditions of earthworm-invaded forests. Further, our study provides evidence that introduced earthworms are associated with declines in plant diversity in North American forests. Changing plant functional composition in these forests may have long-lasting effects on ecosystem functioning.
@article{craven_unseen_2016,
	title = {The unseen invaders: introduced earthworms as drivers of change in plant communities in {North} {American} forests (a meta-analysis)},
	volume = {2016},
	copyright = {All rights reserved},
	issn = {1365-2486 (Electronic) 1354-1013 (Linking)},
	url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27590777},
	doi = {10.1111/gcb.13446},
	abstract = {Globally, biological invasions can have strong impacts on biodiversity as well as ecosystem functioning. While less conspicuous than introduced aboveground organisms, introduced belowground organisms may have similarly strong effects. Here, we synthesize for the first time the impacts of introduced earthworms on plant diversity and community composition in North American forests. We conducted a meta-analysis using a total of 645 observations to quantify mean effect sizes of associations between introduced earthworm communities and plant diversity, cover of plant functional groups, and cover of native and non-native plants. We found that plant diversity significantly declined with increasing richness of introduced earthworm ecological groups. While plant species richness or evenness did not change with earthworm invasion, our results indicate clear changes in plant community composition: cover of graminoids and non-native plant species significantly increased, and cover of native plant species (of all functional groups) tended to decrease, with increasing earthworm biomass. Overall, these findings support the hypothesis that introduced earthworms facilitate particular plant species adapted to the abiotic conditions of earthworm-invaded forests. Further, our study provides evidence that introduced earthworms are associated with declines in plant diversity in North American forests. Changing plant functional composition in these forests may have long-lasting effects on ecosystem functioning.},
	journal = {Glob Chang Biol},
	author = {Craven, D. and Thakur, M. P. and Cameron, E. K. and Frelich, Lee E. and Beausejour, R. and Blair, R. B. and Blossey, Bernd and Burtis, J. and Choi, A. and Davalos, Andrea and Fahey, Timothy J. and Fisichelli, N. A. and Gibson, K. and Handa, I. T. and Hopfensperger, K. and Loss, Scott R. and Nuzzo, Victoria and Maerz, John C. and Sackett, T. and Scharenbroch, B. C. and Smith, S. M. and Vellend, Mark and Umek, L. G. and Eisenhauer, N.},
	year = {2016},
	keywords = {biological invasions, community composition, earthworm invasion, introduced earthworms, meta-analysis, plant communities, plant diversity},
	pages = {1--10},
}
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