The relationship between native species richness and exotic species richness or occurrence will always be negative when the total number of species is accounted for in statistical models: A response to Beaury et al.

Beaury et al. (2020) attempt to address the scale dependence of evidence for biotic resistance by including environmental covariates that can account for total species richness. However, this approach will incorrectly estimate relationships, driven by the accuracy of the covariates rather than the true relationship between native and exotic species.

Automated summary

Beaury et al. (2020) attempt to address the scale dependence of evidence for biotic resistance by including environmental covariates, but this approach may lead to incorrect estimates of relationships.