Characteristics of the naturalized flora of Southern Africa largely reflect the non-random introduction of alien species for cultivation

Abstract

This dataset contains data on the cultivated alien and native flora of Southern Africa associated with data on geographic origins, growth form, functional traits, and naturalization status extracted from different data sources described in Omer, A. et al. 2021. Characteristics of the naturalized flora of Southern Africa largely reflect the non-random introduction of alien species for cultivation– Ecography. doi: 10.1111/ecog.05669. It is frequently overlooked, however, that patterns in origin, phylogeny, and traits of naturalized alien species might largely reflect which species have been introduced in the first place. This study quantifies and assesses such introduction biases by analyzing 5317 plant species introduced for cultivation (i.e. primarily as ornamental garden plants) in the 10 countries composing Southern Africa. The main results show that this cultivated alien flora represents a non-random subset of the global flora and that this bias at the introduction stage largely contributes to patterns in geographic origin, phylogenetic composition, and traits of the naturalized flora of Sothern Africa.