Intra-continental range-expansion of native species tracking human-induced environmental changes has become an important phenomenon, and recently has been suggested to be recognized as a distinct biogeographic category, namely neonative. However, it remains difficult to analyze how range-expansions are triggered by certain environmental changes and which biological and ecological species attributes are involved. We compared biological and ecological attributes and the performance in different test environments during the entire life cycle of a range-expanding neonative in Romania, Xeranthemum cylindraceum, with a congeneric resident native, X. annuum, through a series of controlled experiments. Both species proved to share several biological and ecological attributes, e.g. high potential for long-distance dispersal by multiple vectors, biochemical defense against herbivores by means of cyanogenic compounds, and surprisingly, they were found to have similar germination and performance niches throughout the range of climatic environments tested by us. Differences between the two species, a broader climatic and habitat niche, higher germination rate and viability of seeds can give explanation to the successful spread beyond the historical range of X. cylindraceum. However, based on shared biological attributes between the two species, which confer the potential to spread, and the considerably higher seed output found in the case of the resident native, X. annuum is equally prepared to expand its range. With changing climate and persisting human-induced disturbance, in this case intensive grazing by sheep, we may expect the spread of this species after passing the presumed migration lag phase.

追踪人类引起的环境变化的本土物种的大陆内范围扩张已成为一种重要现象，最近有人建议将其视为一个独特的生物地理类别，即新生物种。然而，仍然很难分析某些环境变化如何引发范围扩张以及涉及哪些生物和生态物种属性。我们通过一系列对照实验，比较了罗马尼亚的一种扩展范围的新生植物Xeranthemum cylindraceum和同属本土本土植物X. annuum在整个生命周期中的生物和生态属性以及在不同测试环境中的表现。事实证明，这两个物种具有一些共同的生物学和生态属性，例如通过多种载体进行长距离传播的高潜力，通过含氰化合物对食草动物进行生化防御，令人惊讶的是，它们被发现在整个范围内具有相似的发芽和性能生态位。我们测试过的气候环境。这两个物种之间的差异、更广泛的气候和栖息地生态位、更高的发芽率和种子活力可以解释X. cylindraceum成功传播到历史范围之外的原因。然而，基于这两个物种之间具有传播潜力的共同生物属性，以及本地居民的种子产量相当高，X. annuum同样准备扩大其范围。随着气候变化和持续的人为干扰，在这种情况下，羊的密集放牧，我们可以预期该物种在经过了假定的迁徙滞后阶段后会扩散。