Indigenous and exotic woody species show distinct assemblage mechanisms in an urban temperate forest

Indigenous and exotic woody species show distinct assemblage mechanisms in an urban temperate forest | Authorea try { document.documentElement.classList.add('js'); } catch (e) { } var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'G-8VDV14Y67G']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Skip to main content Preprints Collections Wiley Open Research IET Open Research Ecological Society of Japan All Collections About About Authorea FAQs Contact Us Quick Search anywhere Search for preprint articles, keywords, etc. Search Search ADVANCED SEARCH SCROLL Oikos This is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary. 12 May 2026 V1 Latest version Share on Indigenous and exotic woody species show distinct assemblage mechanisms in an urban temperate forest Authors : Roxane Beyns 0000-0003-3970-5887 [email protected] and Thomas Drouet [email protected] Authors Info & Affiliations https://doi.org/10.22541/authorea.15003211/v1 11 views 3 downloads Contents Abstract Supplementary Material Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Figures Tables Media Share Abstract Exotic species are ubiquitous components of temperate forest woody assemblages, yet the ecological mechanisms governing their establishment alongside indigenous species remain insufficiently resolved at the community level. We integrated assemblage theory with hypotheses proposed to explain exotic species establishment in other ecosystems. We then examined whether exotic species are structured by distinct mechanisms relative to indigenous species, and whether these mechanisms support the vacant niche, outperformance, or niche complementarity hypotheses. We exhaustively censused, mapped, and functionally characterised all trees ≥ 1.3 m within a 3.8-ha temperate forest undergoing natural recolonisation in urban Brussels, where exotic species represent 50% of the woody flora. Exotic species were classified as naturalised or subspontaneous. Using three spatially explicit metrics quantifying neighbourhood taxonomic and functional structure for 36 focal species, we inferred the relative influence of environmental filtering, hierarchical competition, limiting similarity, and stochastic geometry based on deviations from appropriate null models. We tested whether assemblage mechanisms and null model deviations differed among indigenous, naturalised and subspontaneous species, and analysed pairwise spatial associations among status groups. Hierarchical competition emerged as a dominant and general mechanism structuring indigenous species. In contrast, naturalised species were primarily associated with environmental filtering along soil fertility and light gradients, consistent with the vacant niche hypothesis. Subspontaneous species were predominantly structured by limiting similarity in leaf phenology, consistent with the niche complementarity hypothesis. These results suggest that exotic species are not governed by a single assembly pathway but instead exhibit mechanism-specific structuring contingent on their degree of naturalisation. By explicitly linking spatially inferred assembly mechanisms to coexistence hypotheses within a unified trait-based framework, this study advances a community-level understanding of exotic species establishment in forest ecosystems. Supplementary Material File (supporting information.docx) supporting information Download 3.46 MB Information & Authors Information Version history V1 Version 1 12 May 2026 Collection Oikos Keywords aquatical ecology spatial ecology quantitative ecology Community assembly Interspecific associations Exotic plants Functional Traits Spatial point pattern analysis Temperate forest aquatical ecology spatial ecology quantitative ecology Authors Affiliations Roxane Beyns 0000-0003-3970-5887 [email protected] Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium View all articles by this author Thomas Drouet [email protected] Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium View all articles by this author Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 11 views 3 downloads .FvxKWukQNSOunydq8rnd { width: 100px; } Citations Download citation Roxane Beyns, Thomas Drouet. Indigenous and exotic woody species show distinct assemblage mechanisms in an urban temperate forest. Authorea . 12 May 2026. 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