Native grasslands across the world are subject to exotic weed invasion, over-fertilisation and other threatening processes. Effective restoration and management of grasslands depends on our ability to understand these processes and their interactions. In our new paper, we use mathematical models to explore how exotic invasion and fertilisation can interact to drive and maintain undesirable exotic-dominated states. Interestingly, we find a broad range of conditions under which alternate stable states are possible, implying that invasions, once they occur, can be very difficult to reverse.

Chisholm, R. A., D. N. L. Menge, T. Fung, N. S. G. Williams, and S. A. Levin. The potential for alternative stable states in nutrient-enriched invaded grasslands. Theoretical Ecology.