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Analyzing The Native-Exotic Richness Relationship Using Native Beta Diversity, Gabriela C. Nunez-Mir, Songlin Fei

Purdue GIS Day

Invasion paradox, a change of direction in native-exotic richness relationships (NERRs) from negative at small scales to positive at large scales, has been shown to exist in many environments. A major explanation for these patterns is environmental heterogeneity, and to a lesser extent, species pool size. It is likely that a combination of these factors is producing these patterns and determines if and how they appear in certain environments. Beta diversity, which describes the heterogeneity of species composition among assemblages and as the scalar between local richness and regional richness (species pool size), could serve as a proxy for these …