Synthesis Empirical evidence of the effect of disturbances on plant species richness is contradictory. Here we use a meta-analysis to synthesize the published literature on how different types of disturbances influence the diversity and abundance of plant species, focusing in particular on non-native plants. Our study supports the hypothesis that disturbances generally facilitate the diversity and abundance of non-native plant species, although the strength of this facilitation depends primarily on the disturbance type.