In the world's first large-scale comparative analysis of naturalisation success for plants, we will identify the characteristics of plant species that favour naturalisation.

This will be done by comparing the attributes of species that have succeeded and failed to naturalise from a list of all known plant introductions to New Zealand, and comparing these outcomes with Australia.

We will test a major hypothesis proposed to explain plant invasion success: that species succeed in new locations because they escape their natural enemies.

We will test both the importance and duration of natural enemy escape in New Zealand, focusing on escape from enemies that live in soil.

Selected publications relating to this research:

Diez JM, Sullivan JJ, Hulme PE, Edwards G & Duncan RP (2008) Darwin's naturalization conundrum: dissecting taxonomic patterns of species invasions.  Ecology Letters, 11, 674-681.

Gimeno I, Vilà M & Hulme PE (2006) Are islands more susceptible to plant invasion than continents?  A test using Oxalis pes-caprae in the western Mediterranean.  Journal of Biogeography, 33, 1559-1565

Gravuer, K,; Sullivan, JJ, Williams, PA &; Duncan, RP (2008) Strong human association with plant invasion success for Trifolium introductions to New Zealand  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of The United States of America, 105, 6344-6349.

Lambdon P. W., Pyšek P., Basnou C., Delipetrou P., Essl F., Hejda M., Jarošík V., Pergl J., Winter M., Andriopoulos P., Arianoutsou M., Bazos I., Brundu G., Celesti-Grapow L., Chassot P., Didžiulis V., Jogan N., Josefsson M., Kark S., Klotz S., Kokkoris Y., Kühn I., Marchante H., Perglová I., Vilà M., Zikos A. & Hulme P. E. (2008): Alien flora of Europe: species diversity, geographical pattern and state of the art of research. - Preslia 80: 101-149.

Lambdon PW & Hulme PE (2006)  How strongly do interactions with closely-related native species influence plant invasions? Darwin's naturalization hypothesis assessed on Mediterranean islands  Journal of Biogeography, 33, 1116-1125

Lambdon PW & Hulme PE (2006) Predicting the invasion success of Mediterranean alien plants from their introduction characteristics.  Ecography 29, 853-865

Lloret F, Médail F, Brundu. G, Camarda I, Moragues E, Rita J, Lambdon P & Hulme PE. (2005)  Species attributes and invasion success by alien plants in Mediterranean islands.  Journal of Ecology 93 512-520

Lloret F., Médail F., Brundu. G. & Hulme P.E. (2004)  Local and regional abundance of exotic plant species on Mediterranean islands: are species traits important? Global Ecology & Biogeography 13, 37-45

Sullivan, JJ, Williams, PA; Cameron, EK & Timmins, SM (2004) People and time explain the distribution of naturalized plants in New Zealand. Weed Technology, 18, 1330-1333

Vilà M, Siamantziouras A, Brundu G , Camarda I, Lambdon P , Médail F, Moragues E, Suehs CM, Traveset A, Troumbis AY & Hulme PE (2008) Widespread resistance of Mediterranean island ecosystems to the establishment of three alien species. Diversity & Distributions

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