Regional species assemblages have been shaped by colonization, speciation and extinction over millions of years. Humans have altered biogeography by introducing species to new ranges. However, an analysis of how strongly naturalized plant species (i.e. alien plants that have established self-sustaining populations) affect the taxonomic and phylogenetic uniqueness of regional floras globally is still missing. Here, we present such an analysis with data from native and naturalized alien floras in 658 regions around the world. We find strong taxonomic and phylogenetic floristic homogenization overall, and that the natural decline in floristic similarity with increasing geographic distance is weakened by naturalized species. Floristic homogenization increases with climatic similarity, which emphasizes the importance of climate matching in plant naturalization. Moreover, floristic homogenization is greater between regions with current or past administrative relationships, indicating that being part of the same country as well as historical colonial ties facilitate floristic exchange, most likely due to more intensive trade and transport between such regions. Our findings show that naturalization of alien plants threatens taxonomic and phylogenetic uniqueness of regional floras globally. Unless more effective biosecurity measures are implemented, it is likely that with ongoing globalization, even the most distant regions will lose their floristic uniqueness.

AMAP Univ Montpellier CIRAD CNRS INRAE IRD Montpellier France

Biodiversity Macroecology and Biogeography University of Göttingen Göttingen Germany

Bioinvasions Global Change Macroecology Group Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research University of Vienna Vienna Austria

Biota of North America Program Chapel Hill NC USA

Botanical Garden Institute FEB RAS Vladivostok Russia

Campus Institut Data Science Göttingen Germany

Central Siberian Botanical Garden Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences Novosibirsk Russia

Centre of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use University of Goettingen Göttingen Germany

Czech Academy of Sciences Institute of Botany Department of Invasion Ecology Průhonice Czech Republic

Departamento de Botánica Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanograficas Universidad de Concepción Concepción Chile

Departamento de Botánica Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Mexico City Mexico

Departamento de Ecologia e Zoologia Federal University of Santa Catarina Florianópolis Brazil

Department of Biosciences Durham University Durham UK

Department of Botany Tomsk State University Tomsk Russia

Department of Ecology Faculty of Science Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Ecology and Macroecology group University of Potsdam Potsdam Germany

Ecology Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle Jena Leipzig Leipzig Germany

Ingenieur en Ecologie vegetale Algiers Algeria

Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Estonian University of Life Sciences Tartu Estonia

Institute of Human Ecology Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences Kemerovo Russia

Naturalis Biodiversity Centre Leiden The Netherlands

Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre Frankfurt Germany

Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Taizhou University Taizhou China

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