Alien aquatic plant species in European countries

Abstract

Hussner A (2012). Alien aquatic plant species in European countries. Weed Research52, 297–306. Summary Alien aquatic plant species cause serious ecological and economic impacts to European freshwater ecosystems. This study presents a comprehensive overview of all alien aquatic plants in Europe, their places of origin and their distribution within the 46 European countries. In total, 96 aquatic species from 30 families have been reported as aliens from at least one European country. Most alien aquatic plants are native to Northern America, followed by Asia and Southern America. Elodea canadensis is the most widespread alien aquatic plant in Europe, reported from 41 European countries. Azolla filiculoides ranks second (25), followed by Vallisneria spiralis (22) and Elodea nuttallii (20). The highest number of alien aquatic plant species has been found in Italy and France (34 species), followed by Germany (27), Belgium and Hungary (both 26) and the Netherlands (24). Even though the number of alien aquatic plants seems relatively small, the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO, http://www.eppo.org) has listed 18 of these species as invasive or potentially invasive within the EPPO region. As ornamental trade has been regarded as the major pathway for the introduction of alien aquatic plants, trading bans seem to be the most effective option to reduce the risk of further unintended entry of alien aquatic plants into Europe.

Effects of agricultural land use on fluvial carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide concentrations in a large European river, the Meuse (Belgium)

“…Other human impacts that affect carbon and nitrogen cycling in river networks that can potentially influence cycling of GHGs are river bank stabilization and floodplain drainage that disrupt the river-wetland connectivity that is important for CO 2 and CH 4 dynamics in rivers (Abril et al, 2014;Teodoru et al, 2015;Borges et al, 2015aBorges et al, , 2015bSieczko et al, 2016). The introduction of invasive animal species such as the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) in US rivers and lakes (Caraco et al, 1997;Evans et al, 2011) (Hussner, 2012), some with high production and biomass (Hussner, 2009); invasive floating macrophytes such as the water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) have been documented to increase CO 2 and CH 4 levels in tropical rivers (Koné et al, 2009(Koné et al, , 2010, but this remains undocumented in temperate rivers.…”

Climatic niche shift of aquatic plant invaders between native and invasive ranges: a test using 10 species across different biomes on a global scale

“…Froman environmental management perspective, aquatic plant invaders (APIs) are a growing concern, because they constitute 11% (4 of 36) of the world's most invasive plant species; additionally, they pose a threat to biodiversity, ecosystem balance, and water bodies (Hussner, 2012;Leppä-koski et al, 2013;Svirčev et al, 2014;Luque et al, 2014). The environmental niche describes the response of APIs to the distribution of suitable habitats.…”

“…The expansion and evolution of APIs in non-native ranges, and their propagation along barriers may instill an environmental niche shift. Previous studies have also shown that environmental niche shift is related to human influence (Riis et al, 2012;Hussner, 2012;Donoghue and Edwards, 2014;Svirčev et al, 2014;Nunes et al, 2015). API seedlings have been imported to non-native regions for ecological restoration, agricultural production, or even as ornamental plants (De Groot et al, 2002;Leppäkoski et al, 2013;Riis et al, 2012;Kaufman and Kaufman, 2013).…”

First confirmed record of Elodea canadensis Michx. (Hydrocharitaceae) in Greece

“…Sarika 2005, DAISIE 2008, Zenetos et al 2009, Arianoutsou et al 2010, Hussner 2012, Dimopoulos et al 2013. Zenetos et al (2009) in their literature review about alien aquatic species in Greece, remark that "the alien freshwater flora of Greece is poorly studied, since several regions and habitats likely to host such species are under-sampled.…”