A number of recent studies have suggested that global climate change will cause a significant increase in the range of invasive plant species. They argue that these two factors operating in tandem intensifies the possible environmental damage expected to occur due to climate change. However, these studies rely heavily on species distribution models which are constructed and tested using only climactic variables, what is commonly called a species’ “bioclimactic envelope”.
However, I would argue that by including enduring features on the landscape, (i.e.those features that will remain constant despite global climate change), such as elevation, slope, aspect, geology, and soil type, one would derive a more accurate prediction of how invasive plants are likely to change under a number of climate change scenarios. I would hypothesize that for the majority of species the inclusion of these enduring features will reduce the predicted spread of invasive plants with climate change.