An aggressive invasive, Sagina procumbens, causes an invasional-meltdown on sub-Antarctic Marion Island

Twala, Mthokozisi; Janion‐Scheepers, Charlene; Roux, Peter C. le; Greve, Michelle

doi:10.1016/j.sajb.2018.02.134

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The species occur across Marion Island and have recently spread into Prince Edward Island. If left unmanaged, these species threaten Prince Edward Island's pristine state as they can cause rapid transformation in both disturbed and undisturbed habitats (Gremmen & Smith 1999, Ryan et al 2003, Mukhadi 2011, Twala et al 2018. S. procumbens is extremely difficult to manage due to the occurrence of large numbers of long-lived seeds, with up to 200 000 seeds m 2 (N.J.M.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prioritization of alien plant targets for biological control in South Africa's offshore sub-Antarctic islands

Canavan

Paterson

2023

Antarctic Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Invasive alien plants (IAPs) are a significant threat to the biodiversity and ecological functioning of the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands (PEIs); however, weed biological control has not yet been implemented as a management tool. The PEIs have had 23 alien plants recorded, of which several are considered beyond eradication and therefore could benefit from the release of safe and effective biocontrol agents. We used the South African Biological Control Target Selection (BCTS) system to provide a ranked list of the target species in order of priority for further biocontrol research. The highest-scoring species, and therefore those that should be considered first to be targeted, were Sagina procumbens and Cerastium fontanum. No biocontrol agents for IAPs have been released in any climate with as consistent low temperatures as in the PEIs, so the climatic compatibility of agents will be essential prior to any decision to release. However, with very few native species present on the PEIs, the programmes would involve limited host specificity testing, which would improve the feasibility and speed with which new biocontrol agents could be developed. Biocontrol may offer an environmentally safe and sustainable method of reducing the negative impacts of these priority species and thus warrants further investigation.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%