An initial industrial flora: A framework for botanical research in cooperation with industry for biodiversity conservation

Abstract

Humans have created an accelerating, increasingly connected, globalized economy, resulting in a more globalized, shared flora. The prevention of new, establishing species is less costly, both economically and ecologically, and is more manageable than eradicating nonnative invasive species once they are widespread and negatively impactful. We ask if international trade hubs and points-of-entry with high-volume trade, constant disturbance, and propagule rain have a higher number of nonnative species compared to surrounding areas and if they may serve as initial establishment sites and refugia of nonnative, invasive populations. Therefore, we partnered with various federal, state, and private interests to evaluate the floristic composition at the Garden City Terminal of the Port of Savannah, Georgia, USA. We conducted the following study to demonstrate the collaborative relationship-building between researchers and industry and to develop a framework for biodiversity conservation. In our study, we collected all reproductive vascular plants in the secured areas of the Garden City Terminal during four major seasonal time points over two years. The percent of nonnative species and number of nonnative plant species per hectare at this industrial location exceeded all other comparison floras. The mean coefficient of conservatism was lowest among the comparison floras, indicating a highly disturbed habitat with nonnative, weedy native, and other native species tolerant of disturbance. Our study represents one of the first inventories of an Industrialized Flora and indicates that such areas are hot-spots of nonnative plant diversity and possible sources of emergent plant invasions. We posit that industrial sites and international points-of-entry should be considered laboratories for research on species transport and introduction, adaptability, and taxonomic delineation to better

Seeds attached to refrigerated shipping containers represent a substantial risk of nonnative plant species introduction and establishment

“…Steud. (nonnative), already established on-port at the GCT in a previous study that demonstrated that the Port of Savannah is a hub of nonnative species richness 19 .…”

“…The theoretical literature postulates that increased numbers of propagules (i.e., propagule size 6,8-11 ) and pressure (which includes propagule size and frequency as a rate) increases the likelihood of nascent population establishment and population size and diversity 6,10 ; however, among our four focal taxa, a nascent population may establish from a single seed during arrival at a suitable terrestrial substrate, such as the GCT's greenspaces 19 . Persistence of an extremely small population can, and is likely to, be facilitated by asexual propagation and spatial spread of these particular plant taxa.…”

“…1) and propagule number ( Supplementary Fig. 2) of plant species considered to be of highrisk to agriculture in the USA 19 . Our key finding is that influx is sufficient and reproduction of these species is Table 1.…”

“…The Garden City Terminal (GCT) is the container-handling facility of the Port of Savannah and is located in Chatham County, Georgia, USA (32°07′42.5"N, 81°09′05.4"W) ( Supplementary Fig. 1; also see: Lucardi et al 19 ).…”

“…Each year, we recorded change in the number of 'invaded sites' , which we defined as a 1-m 2 area inhabited by at least one reproductive individual of the species under consideration. The GCT in total is greater than 485 ha and interspersed with small greenspaces throughout 19 . We asked if one area of 250m by 4m (equivalent to 1,000 available sites) could become fully occupied within several years.…”