Plant introductions outside their native ranges by humans have led to substantial ecological consequences. While we have gained considerable knowledge about intercontinental introductions, the distribution and determinants of intracontinental aliens remain poorly understood. Here, we studied naturalized (i.e., self-sustaining) intracontinental aliens using native and alien floras of 243 mainland regions in North America, South America, Europe, and Australia. We revealed that 4510 plant species had intracontinental origins, accounting for 3.9% of all plant species and 56.7% of all naturalized species in these continents. In North America and Europe, the numbers of intracontinental aliens peaked at mid-latitudes, while the proportion peaked at high latitudes in Europe. Notably, we found predominant poleward naturalization, primarily due to larger native species pools in low-latitudes. Geographic and climatic distances constrained the naturalization of intracontinental aliens in Australia, Europe, and North America, but not in South America. These findings suggest that poleward naturalizations will accelerate, as high latitudes become suitable for more plant species due to climate change.

Biodiversity Macroecology and Biogeography University of Göttingen Göttingen Germany

Biota of North America Program Chapel Hill NC USA

Campus Institute Data Science University of Göttingen Göttingen Germany

Centre for Invasion Biology Department of Botany and Zoology Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch South Africa

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

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

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

Department of Biosciences Durham University Durham UK

Department of Ecology Faculty of Science Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Division of BioInvasions Global Change and Macroecology Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research University of Vienna Vienna Austria

Ecology Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle Jena Leipzig Leipzig Germany

Leipzig University Leipzig Germany

The German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle Jena Leipzig Leipzig Germany

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

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