Whole community invasions and the integration of novel ecosystems
Fig 3
The effect of multi-species invasion on species richness.
The horizontal axes indicate the total number of native and invasive species at the time of invasion (i.e., in the amalgamated community); the vertical axes indicate the total number of species in the resulting attractor (stable state or limit cycle). Coloring indicates the number of simulations with the corresponding species counts. The black line indicates a 1:1 ratio for visual reference and the “+” symbol indicates the median. When the invaders form a stable community (left), the species richness generally increases. In contrast, if the invaders do not form a stable community (right), the species richness generally decreases.