Challenging the view that invasive non-native plants are not a significant threat to the floristic diversity of Great Britain

Abstract

Conservation scientists and practitioners have long recognized that not all non-native species pose a threat to biodiversity, yet some ecologists still fail to grasp this message. The conclusions drawn by Thomas and Palmer that non-native plant species are not a threat to floral diversity in Britain highlight how this lack of understanding can lead to inappropriate analyses and misleading inferences regarding the impacts of non-native species. Thomas and Palmer base their conclusions on an analysis of the Countryside Survey (CS): this valuable dataset depicts large-scale vegetation changes in common habitats, but its stratified random design does not provide a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of non-native plant species on native biodiversity.