Abstract
When colonizing new areas, alien plants prosper differently in diverse
local conditions. Some thrive in urban areas, while others thrive in
rural areas, which might be governed by microclimatic barriers. We
tested the hypothesis that the climate in the native range is a good
predictor of the urbanity of invaders. The relationship between climate
in the native range and occurrence urbanity of 26 emerging alien plant
species in western Europe areas with a temperate climate with warm
summers but no dry season (termed oceanic Europe) was evaluated.
Urbanity was calculated based on land imperviousness. Alien species
growing in more urban environments originated from warmer or
climatically more contrasted native ranges than oceanic Europe. These
results have strong conservation implications in oceanic Europe because
climate-warming will likely lift climatic barriers that currently
constrain numerous alien plant species to cities, boosting the role of
cities as points of entry for invasive plants.