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Niche conservatism is a key assumption when planning non-native species management, but it is not always met. This study suggests that regional differences in niche conservatism are primarily transient and thus a matter of time.

Compiling data on floral introductions and European colonial history of regions worldwide, the authors find that compositional similarity of floras is higher than expected among regions once occupied by the same empire and similarity increases with the length of time the region was occupied by that empire.

Across a global dataset of over 11,000 naturalized alien plant species, the authors find that species are likely to naturalize both in regions with climates and floras similar to those in their native ranges, and in regions with a lower diversity or stronger human impact than in their native range.

Analysing the distributions of >99% of the world’s seed plant flora, the authors find evidence supporting the evolutionary imbalance hypothesis, with species originating from large, biodiverse regions being more successful at naturalizing beyond their native ranges.

Analysing occurrence records from >200,000 plant species across 1,103 regions, the authors show that mycorrhizal associations are less common among native island plants than native mainland plants and decline with increasing island isolation.

Alien species of animals and plants can invade new regions of the earth. This study performs a global analysis of temporal dynamics and spatial patterns of alien species introductions over the past 200 years, and reports no saturation in the rate at which these invasion are increasing.

Humans have altered plant biogeography by introducing species from one region to another, but an analysis of how naturalized plant species affect the uniqueness of regional floras around the world was missing. This study presents an analysis using data from native and naturalized alien floras in 658 regions, finding strong taxonomic and phylogenetic floristic homogenization overall.

Relatively rapid changes in island area, isolation and connectivity observed since the Last Glacial Maximum have had measurable effects on present-day biodiversity, with formerly larger and less well connected islands having a greater number of endemic species.

Human metaplastic breast cancers (MpBC) are a rare, aggressive subclass of triple-negative breast cancers. Here, the authors show over-expression of histone reader TRIM24 is sufficient to generate tumors with a molecular signature of metabolic dysfunction and EMT in a mouse model of human MpBC.

Plants with the capability to reproduce easily without mates and pollinators could have an advantage when colonizing new territory. Here, Razanajatovoet al. use a global database to infer that flowering plants capable of selfing have become naturalized in a larger number of regions than those that must outcross.

Plant invasion and naturalisation threaten native biodiversity. Here, the authors conduct a global multi-factor and multi-stage analysis, showing that genome size and economic factors influence plant invasion and naturalisation.

This modelling study integrates comprehensive regional plant inventories, environmental conditions and palaeogeographical reconstructions to assess the relative roles of environmental filtering and dispersal barriers in shaping global seed plant diversity, demonstrating that environmental filtering has a persistent effect on species distribution patterns across evolutionary timescales.

The largest plant family, Asteraceae, forms an iconic component of many island floras. Here, the authors conduct a macroecological review, showing that Asteraceae have a truly global distribution on islands and are the most diverse plant family on oceanic islands.

This paper examines how the relationship between native and alien plants changes the nature of an invasion, finding that the stages, and ultimate success, of an invasion are intrinsically linked to the phylogenetic relationship.

Analysing time series in >3,500 naturalized plant species from herbarium data, the authors show that 35% of alien species experience a lag phase lasting an average of 40 years before becoming invasive, with the majority occupying different climatic spaces during the lag and expansion phases.

Scrutinizing the empirical evidence for bidirectional trade-offs in fine root traits, the authors show that while these are important in explaining species occurrences along broad temperature and water availability gradients, unidirectional benefits are prevalent.

A standardized checklist of all known vascular plants shows the distribution of island native and endemic species, identifies their conservation status and highlights the need for actions to conserve them.

This study relates 88,000 elevation range sizes of vascular plants in 44 mountains to short-term and long-term temperature variation. The authors finding of decreasing elevation range sizes with greater diurnal temperature range supports a novel biodiversity hypothesis and indicates increased extinction risk of continental species.

Alien species could be either more or less likely to become naturalized where closely related species occur. This study reveals a global latitudinal pattern whereby successfully naturalized alien plants are more closely related to natives at higher latitudes, reinforced by human modification of the environment.

Understanding why certain alien species become naturalized can shed light on biological invasion patterns. In this global analysis on thousands of taxa, van Kleunen and colleagues show that plant species of economic use are more likely to become naturalized, and that this underlies geographic patterns and phylogenetic signals in naturalization

On the oceanic island of Tenerife, dispersal, speciation and persistence drive the diversity and distribution of plant functional traits.

Anthropogenic habitat modification is considered a driver of non-native species establishment. Here, the authors quantify the occurrence of non-native species in local assemblages of vascular plants, ants, spiders, birds and mammals, finding generally greater presence and frequency under disturbed land-use types.

In this review the authors argue that the inhibition of cell death is an important characteristic of metastatic cancer cells. Will this view identify new treatments for metastatic disease?

Combining ecophysiological growth models of >135,000 vascular plant species and information on plant growth form, the authors show that 33–68% of the global land surface will experience a significant change in the next 50 years in how climate supports the plant growth forms that define terrestrial ecosystems.

The effect of the latitudinal diversity gradient on plants on oceanic islands is weakened by classical abiotic physical drivers of island biogeography and, to a greater extent, by mutualism with other species.

Analysis of eight taxonomic groups across 186 islands and 423 mainland regions reveals that those with the greatest gross domestic product per capita, human population density and area have the highest established alien species richness, with the strongest effects on islands.

JWST observations reveal more than 17 nested dust shells that formed in the colliding winds of the massive binary WR 140 that enrich the surrounding interstellar medium with organic compounds and carbon-rich dust.

Plants associated with nitrogen-fixing bacterial symbionts are disproportionately underrepresented on islands, suggesting that these bacteria might play a limiting role in island plant biogeography.

Delavaux et al. uses global plant databases to examine how the types of mycorrhizal fungi influence the colonization of plants on islands. Their results show that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis limits plant species’ establishment on islands more than other mycorrhizal associations, and that this initial filter of AM plant species impacts diversification and plant invasion risks.

A global database of alien plants, showing that over 13,000 species, nearly 4% of the global flora, have become naturalized in a new location.