Habitat type and community age as barriers to alien plant invasions in coastal species-habitat networks

Alien plants are a growing threat to the Galápagos unique biota. We evaluated the impact of alien plants on eight seed dispersal networks from two islands of the archipelago. Nearly 10 000 intact seeds from 58 species were recovered from the droppings of 18 bird and reptile dispersers. The most dispersed invaders were Lantana camara , Rubus niveus and Psidium guajava , the latter two likely benefiting from an asynchronous fruit production with most native plants, which facilitate their consumption and spread. Lava lizards dispersed the seeds of 27 species, being the most important dispersers, followed by small ground finch, two mockingbirds, the giant tortoise and two insectivorous birds. Most animals dispersed alien seeds, but these formed a relatively small proportion of the interactions. Nevertheless, the integration of aliens was higher in the island that has been invaded for longest, suggesting a time-lag between alien plant introductions and their impacts on seed dispersal networks. Alien plants become more specialized with advancing invasion, favouring more simplified plant and disperser communities. However, only habitat type significantly affected the overall network structure. Alien plants were dispersed via two pathways: dry-fruited plants were preferentially dispersed by finches, while fleshy fruited species were mostly dispersed by other birds and reptiles.

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Bird species richness and abundance in riparian vegetation invaded by exotic Reynoutria spp.

Biologia ◽

10.2478/s11756-013-0296-x ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 69 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Lenka Hajzlerová ◽

Jiří Reif

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Plant Species ◽

Riparian Vegetation ◽

Bird Species ◽

Plant Invasions ◽

Alien Plant ◽

Bird Species Richness ◽

River Bank ◽

Management Actions ◽

Acrocephalus Palustris

AbstractImpacts of invasive alien plant species are threatening biodiversity worldwide and thus it is important to assess their effects on particular groups of organisms. However, such impacts were studied mostly in case of plant or invertebrate communities and our understanding the response of vertebrate species to plant invasions remains incomplete. To improve our knowledge in this respect, we studied bird communities in riparian vegetation along the rivers with different levels of Reynoutria spp. invasion in the Czech Republic. These findings will be interesting for basic ecology enhancing our knowledge of consequences of plant invasions, as well as for conservation practice. We surveyed understory bird species in 26 vegetation blocks along parts of three rivers running from the Beskydy Mountains in spring 2011. We used principal component analysis to assess vegetation structure of particular blocks and the first axis ordinated the blocks according to the degree of invasion by Reynoutria spp. Using generalized linear mixed-effects models we found that counts of Motacilla cinerea, Cinclus cinclus and Sylvia borin, as well as the total bird species richness, significantly decreased with increasing degree of Reynoutria spp. invasion, while Acrocephalus palustris showed the opposite pattern. These results suggest that Reynoutria spp. impacts negatively on the species strictly bond with river banks and habitats specialists, whereas habitat generalist species like Sylvia atricapilla were not affected. Preference of Acrocephalus palustris for Reynoutria spp. corroborates affinity of this species to large invasive herbs observed also in other studies. Our study showed that Reynoutria spp. invasion can reduce species richness of understory birds in riparian communities. Although the distribution of this plant species is still quite limited in central Europe, our results suggest that its more widespread occurrence could potentially threat some river bank bird species. Therefore, we urge for development of management actions that will act counter the Reynoutria spp. invasion.

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Twenty-five years of conferences on the Ecology and Management of Alien Plant invasions: the history of EMAPi 1992–2017

Biological Invasions ◽

10.1007/s10530-018-1873-2 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 21 (3) ◽

pp. 725-742 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Petr Pyšek ◽

Giuseppe Brundu ◽

John Brock ◽

Lois Child ◽

Max Wade

Keyword(s):

Plant Invasions ◽

Alien Plant ◽

History Of

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ILORA: A database of alien vascular flora of India

10.1101/2021.05.28.446252 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Vidushi Pant ◽

Chinmay Patwardhan ◽

Kshitij Patil ◽

Amiya Ranjan Bhowmick ◽

Abhishek Mukherjee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Information Exchange ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Plant Invasions ◽

Quality Data ◽

Easy Access ◽

Alien Plant Species ◽

Alien Plant ◽

Research Activities ◽

Alien Flora

Plant invasions pose an unprecedented threat to biodiversity and ecosystems at different spatial scales, especially for a biodiversity-rich developing nation like India. While country-level checklists are considered as the first step for effective management of plant invasions, databases having biological and ecological attributes of these plant species are of paramount importance for facilitating research activities and developing policy interventions concerning alien plant invasion in a country or region. Though checklists with the names and basic details of alien plant species are available for India, a database aggregating attributes relevant to the understanding of the invasion continuum is lacking. We have curated data for 13 variables related to ecology, biogeography, introduction history, socio-economy and environmental niche of 1747 alien vascular plant species from 22 national and global sources to produce the Indian Alien Flora Information (ILORA) version 1.0 database. This paper describes the detailed methodology of curating these data along with the logic behind selecting these variables to be included in the database. The database, first of its kind for the Indian alien flora, will provide easy access to high quality data, offer a ready reference to comprehend the existing scenario of alien plant species in the country and provide opportunities to identify, scrutinize and prioritize the management of these species. The database is dynamic and will be continuously updated with the availability of new data. It has the provision for bidirectional information exchange with the users, which will allow increasing the resolution of the database as well as the expansion of its capacity. All data will be associated with the source information and ILORA will encourage users to refer to the primary sources to give the contributors full credit and acknowledgement. The database is, therefore, envisaged to become a nationwide collaborative platform for a wide spectrum of stakeholders involving the scientific community, citizens, and policymakers. ILORA is freely accessible via an online data repository as well as through a dedicated website (https://ilora2020.wixsite.com/ilora2020).

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Alien Plant Invasions in India: Current Status and Management Challenges

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences India Section B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1007/s40011-012-0102-5 ◽

2012 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Zafar A. Reshi ◽

Anzar A. Khuroo

Keyword(s):

Plant Invasions ◽

Current Status ◽

Alien Plant

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Status and impacts of invasive alien plant species in Parsa National Park, central Nepal

Banko Janakari ◽

10.3126/banko.v30i1.29179 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (1) ◽

pp. 21-31 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

R. Chaudhary ◽

B. B. Shrestha ◽

H. Thapa ◽

M. Siwakoti

Keyword(s):

Alien Species ◽

Plant Species ◽

National Parks ◽

National Park ◽

Invasive Alien Species ◽

Plant Invasions ◽

Tree Regeneration ◽

Alien Plant Species ◽

Alien Plant ◽

Invasive Alien Plant

Extent of plant invasions has been expected to be low in protected areas such as national parks due to low anthropogenic activities and high wilderness. However, recent researches across the world have revealed that plant invasions can be severe in the national parks with negative impacts on the protected species and ecosystems. Unfortunately, the status of plant invasions in the national parks of Nepal is mostly unknown. In this study, we sampled at seven locations inside the Parsa National Park (PNP) to document diversity and abundance of invasive alien plant species (IAPS) and their impacts on tree regeneration. Altogether, 130 quadrats of 10 m × 10 m were sampled. We recorded 14 IAPS in the PNP. Three of the IAPS (Chromolana odorata, Lantana camara and Mikania micrantha) were among the 100 of the world’s worst invasive alien species. C. odorata was found to be the most frequent IAPS with the highest cover. The frequency and cover of the IAPS were higher at the sites close to the settlements than at the sites away from the settlements. The species richness of the IAPS was also higher at the sites closer to the settlements than away. The sapling density of the tree species was found to have declined with the increasing cover of the IAPS suggesting that the IAPS had negatively affected tree regeneration. Our data revealed that the PNP has already witnessed massive plant invasions with widespread occurrence of three of the world’s worst invasive species. Therefore, it is high time to integrate management of invasive alien species in the management plan of the park.

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