Contrasting functional trait syndromes underlay woody alien success in the same ecosystem.

We performed a comprehensive comparative study of functional traits in coexisting alien and native woody species in order to examine the strategies related to resource use and dispersion underlying alien success in mountain Chaco woodlands of central Argentina. Our approach integrated seemingly contrasting pieces of evidence in the region. We specifically assessed whether (i) the 'functional acquisitive trend' previously observed along a broad environmental gradient accounts for woody alien naturalization when considering a single mesic ecosystem; or (ii) more than one trait syndrome is important among alien species, which would be more in line with the context-dependent nature of biological invasions at a local scale. Fifteen vegetative and regenerative traits were measured on the most common 14 native and 11 alien woody species. We compared the attributes of (i) native and alien species and (ii) between native species and two contrasting groups of alien species identified in the previous analysis. The overall trait comparison (i) showed that, in terms of vegetative attributes, woody alien species tend to be on average more acquisitive than native species. However, (ii) two contrasting syndromes were revealed among alien species: a group of seven deciduous species with acquisitive attributes; and a group of four evergreen species showing markedly more conservative attributes than the first group. The functional attributes of 'conservative aliens' completely overlapped with the range observed for native species, except for an exclusive dispersal phenology and a stronger tendency to clonal spread. Acquisitive aliens, in turn, proved to be beyond the range of attributes of native species, at the acquisitive extreme, as they did in previous comparisons. Despite their importance, general trends in plant functional attributes across regions and ecosystems can sometimes obscure trends at more local scales that are nevertheless important for the understanding and management of particular systems. Our study concurs with previous general trends when looking at the overall comparison between native and alien species, but unveils contrasting functional strategies among alien species when examining their attributes more closely, even within the same ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]