Invasiveness, invasibility and the role of environmental stress in the spread of non-native plants

Alpert, Peter; Bone, Elizabeth; Holzapfel, Claus

doi:10.1078/1433-8319-00004

Cited by 753 publications

(695 citation statements)

References 120 publications

(152 reference statements)

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“…Thus, two of the urgent tasks of ecologists who are investigating biological invasions are to understand the factors influencing invasion success of plants and to develop means to predict plant invasions (Heger and Trepl 2003). Unfortunately, to date there is no consensus on invasion mechanisms and predictive models (Alpert et al 2000;Milbau et al 2003). Controversies range from whether we can reliably predict which species may become invasive to which species characteristics (e.g., life history, taxonomic groups, or geographic origin) contribute to the invasion processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasive alien plants in China: role of clonality and geographical origin

et al. 2006

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Biological invasions have become a significant threat to the global environment. Unfortunately, to date there is no consensus on invasion mechanisms and predictive models. Controversies range from whether we can reliably predict which species may become invasive to which species characteristics (e.g., life history, taxonomic groups, or geographic origin) contribute to the invasion processes. We examined 126 invasive alien plant species in China to understand the role of clonality and geographical origin in their invasion success. These species were categorized into three groups (I, II, III) based on their invasiveness in terms of current spatial occupation and the degree of damage to invaded habitats. Clonal plants consisted of almost half (44%) of the 126 invasive species studied, and consisted of 66% of 32 the most invasive alien plant species (Group I). There was a significant positive relationship between clonality and species invasiveness. A 68% of the 126 species studied originated in the continent of America (North and/or South America). These preliminary findings support that America is the primary geographical origin of invasive alien plant species in China and that clonality of the invasive plant species contributed significantly to the their invasiveness. The results suggest an urgent need at the global scale to investigate the mechanisms whereby plant clonal growth influences plant invasions, and the need for a focus at regional scale to examine factors affecting the exchange of invasive plant species between America and China.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasive alien plants in China: role of clonality and geographical origin

et al. 2006

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“…Research on habitat invasibility led to generalisations such as that (anthropogenically) disturbed, and resource-rich, early-successional habitats are more vulnerable to invasions than undisturbed, resource-poor and late-successional habitats (Alpert et al, 2000;Drake et al, 1989). It also became evident that the presence of invasive species can have a strong influence on the functioning of the invaded ecosystem (Levine et al, 2003;Vitousek, 1990), and in particular that in some cases invasive species change habitat conditions in a way that facilitate further invasions (Simberloff, 2006).…”

Section: The Classical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the classical model these processes were not explicitly studied, yet propagule pressure was included in analyses as a third but unstudied explanatory factor external to the studied system. Research on plant invasiveness (Daehler, 1998(Daehler, , 2003Grotkopp et al, 2002;Kolar and Lodge, 2001;Rejmanek, 1996;Richardson and Pysek, 2006;Sakai et al, 2001) and habitat invasibility (Alpert et al, 2000;Drake et al, 1989;Lonsdale, 1999;Stohlgren et al, 1999) was mostly based on global biogeographic comparisons of descriptive natural history information or experimental studies of single species, and relied on the assumption that the alien provenance of a species is an important explanatory factor. However, to date it is not clear if invasive alien species generally differ from native species with a high potential to colonise new areas (Thompson et al, 1995).…”

Section: The Classical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Achieve Effectiveness in Problem-Oriented Landscape Research: The Example of Research on Biotic Invasions

Kueffer¹,

Hadorn²

2008

Living Rev. Landscape Res.

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It is increasingly expected from environmental research such as landscape research that science directly contributes to the solving of pressing societal problems. However, despite increased efforts to direct research towards societal problems, it is not obvious if science has become more effective in supporting environmental problem-solving. We present in this article a framework that facilitates the analysis and design of problem-orientation in research fields. We then apply the proposed framework to a concrete example of a problem-oriented landscape research field -namely research on biotic invasions. Invasion research addresses the problem that some organisms, that have been introduced by humans to a new geographic area where they were previously not present, spread in the landscape and pose negative impacts.We argue that problem-oriented research is more than applied research. Besides research on specific questions it also encompasses boundary management, i.e., deliberations among experts and stakeholders on the framing of adequate research questions about processes, values and practices for effective problem-solving. We postulate that such research may assist problem-solving in three ways, by analysing causal relationships (systems knowledge), clarifying conflicts of interests and values (target knowledge), or contributing to the development of appropriate means for action (transformation knowledge).We show that over the past decades a broad range of different research approaches has emerged in the young field of invasion research in order to produce systems, target and transformation knowledge for invasive species management. Early research in the field was dominated by the development of systems knowledge, but increasingly the three knowledge forms are Boundary management in invasion research is mainly restricted to informal networks (communities of practice), while formal processes such as transdisciplinary research are scarce. We suggest that the paucity of structured and explicit boundary management processes will limit the future development of a more effective science for invasive species management. In particular, we envisage three obstacles that can only be removed through explicit boundary management. First, the existing theoretical frameworks are currently only partly able to integrate natural and social sciences research on the processes underlying invasions. Second, a clarification of the normative thinking about alien plant invasions is needed. Third, research on transformation knowledge has so far not fundamentally challenged the existing conceptual framing and institutional setup of invasive species management.

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“…In some cases, low soil water availability reduces their invasiveness (Alpert et al 2000;Stohlgren et al 2001), while some other alien species can tolerate drought better than local species (Williams and Black 1994;Milchunas and Lauenroth 1995;Nernberg and Dale 1997). In the latter case, such aliens might extend their range boundaries.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%