Patterns of invasion in temperate nature reserves

The extent of plant invasions was studied in 302 nature reserves located in the Czech Republic, central Europe. Lists of vascular plant species were obtained for each reserve, alien species were divided into archaeophytes and neophytes (introduced before and after 1500, respectively). The statistical analysis using general linear models made it possible to identify the effects of particular variables. Flora representation by neophytes decreased with altitude (explained 23.8% of variance) while, with archaeophytes, the effect of altitude depended on their interaction with native species in particular vegetation types. The proportion of neophytes increased with increasing density of human population. Both the number and proportion of aliens plants significantly increased with increasing number of native species in a reserve. This relationship was affected by altitude, and after filtering out this variable, the effect remained positive for neophytes but became negative for archaeophytes in humid grasslands. The positive relationship between neophytes and native species is not a mere side effect of species-area relationship of native flora, but indicates that the two groups do not directly compete. Vegetation type alone explained 14.2 and 55.5% of variation in proportion of aliens in regions of mesophilous and mountain flora, respectively. Humid grasslands were the least invaded vegetation type. Positioning the reserve within large protected sections of landscape significantly decreases probability of it being invaded by potentially invasive alien species. Within the context of SLOSS debate, a new model — several small inside single large (SSISL) — is suggested as an appropriate solution from the viewpoint of plant invasions to nature reserves.     

Urbanization and homogenization - Comparing the floras of urban and rural areas in Germany

The process of urbanization has resulted in an expansion of alien plant species and declines of native species, in particular already rare species. These processes may cause a greater similarity between different urban regions, i.e. biotic homogenization. We explored the relationship between urban regions and homogenization for plant species in Germany using (i) all plant species, (ii) only native species, (iii) all alien species and only those introduced (iv) before or (v) after 1500, respectively. We used the database FLORKART for species distribution on a 6 min latitude × 10 min longitude (ca. 130 km²) scale. We calculated mean similarities for the 60 “most urbanized” cells. We then resampled 60 randomly drawn “less urbanized” cells and 60 “rural” cells and compared these results to the “most urbanized” cells taking distance effects into account. Urbanization does not have an overall effect on homogenization of all species, but native species as well as pre-1500 alien plant assemblages show effects of homogenization while post-1500 alien plant assemblages show the opposite effect. On a regional scale, urbanization is not unequivocally related to homogenization. This might be different when extending the analysed range across several bioclimatic regions. Specific urban habitats, or what remains of them, require special protection and management if the trend towards homogenization is to be avoided.     

Habitat specialists and generalists drive homogenization and differentiation of temperate forest plant communities at the regional scale

In European temperate forests, changes in the compositional similarity among local plant communities (beta diversity) have rarely been studied due to the lack of adequate baseline data. Several studies, however, report the spread of common, generalist species or a decline in specialized, rare species. Both processes may lead to increased similarity among communities, i.e., biotic homogenization.To quantify changes in beta diversity, we resampled the herb layer composition of ancient broadleaf forests at 175 semi-permanent plots distributed across the Weser-Elbe region in NW Germany 20 years after first sampling. We hypothesized that beta diversity would have decreased on average as a result of a spread of habitat generalists and a decline in habitat specialists.After two decades, the forest communities did not yet exhibit severe biotic impoverishment, although there was a broad trend towards homogenization. The actual magnitude of change depended on which beta diversity measure was applied. The downward trend was primarily the result of the spread of native species that are able to tolerate broad pH and moisture ranges. A distinction between forest specialists (closely tied to forest habitats) and generalists (also found in open habitats) did not help explain changes in beta diversity. The study shows that on the regional scale and in habitats not yet threatened by the invasion of alien species, shifts in native species can promote biotic homogenization.     

Urbanization as a major cause of biotic homogenization

When measured by extent and intensity, urbanization is one of the most homogenizing of all major human activities. Cities homogenize the physical environment because they are built to meet the relatively narrow needs of just one species, our own. Also, cities are maintained for centuries in a disequilibrium state from the local natural environment by the importation of vast resources of energy and materials. Consequently, as cities expand across the planet, biological homogenization increases because the same “urban-adaptable” species become increasingly widespread and locally abundant in cities across the planet. As urbanization often produces a local gradient of disturbance, one can also observe a gradient of homogenization. Synanthropic species adapted to intensely modified built habitats at the urban core are “global homogenizers”, found in cities worldwide. However, many suburban and urban fringe habitats are occupied by native species that become regionally widespread. These suburban adapters typically consist of early successional plants and “edge” animal species such as mesopredator mammals, and ground-foraging, omnivorous and frugivorous birds that can utilize gardens, forest fragments and many other habitats available in the suburbs. A basic conservation challenge is that urban biota is often quite diverse and very abundant. The intentional and unintentional importation of species adapted to urban habitats, combined with many food resources imported for human use, often produces local species diversity and abundance that is often equal to or greater than the surrounding landscape. With the important exception of low-income areas, urban human populations often inhabit richly cultivated suburban habitats with a relatively high local floral and faunal diversity and/or abundance without awareness of the global impoverishment caused by urbanization. Equally challenging is that, because so many urban species are immigrants adapting to city habitats, urbanites of all income levels become increasingly disconnected from local indigenous species and their natural ecosystems. Urban conservation should therefore focus on promoting preservation and restoration of local indigenous species.     

Interspecific hybridisation between alien and native plant species in Germany and its consequences for native biodiversity

We explored the extent of interspecific hybridisation between alien and native plant species in Germany with a special focus on the potential threat for native biodiversity. In total we listed 134 hybrids which are interpreted as products of hybridisation between 81 alien and 109 native plant species (including 13 archeophytes) that occur in Germany. Seventy-five of these hybrids have been recorded in Germany, while the remaining 59 hybrids have not been detected in Germany yet, although both parental species currently occur in Germany. Interspecific hybridisation between abundant alien and rare native species can threaten populations of the native species through outbreeding depression and/or through high rates of gene flow swamping native populations. We identified 37 threatened native plant species which hybridise with aliens. Seventeen of these threatened plant species may suffer from outbreeding depression when hybridising with a more abundant alien invader (minority disadvantage). Using hybrid abundance as an indicator of hybrid fitness we argue that introgression of alien genes may affect the gene pool of eight threatened native plant species. Consequently, hybridisation with aliens has to be considered as an additional risk potentially leading to a loss of biodiversity and should be included in the repertoire of causes for rare species extinction in German Red Lists of threatened plant species.     

Underground mining can contribute to freshwater biodiversity conservation: Allogenic succession forms suitable habitats for dragonflies

Human-induced changes negatively affect all components of freshwater ecosystems and comprise the major cause of global loss of diversity and the biotic homogenization of freshwater faunas. The high diversity of dragonflies in heavily industrialized areas is therefore paradoxical, to say the least. We compared diversity of dragonflies in three main freshwater habitat types (natural and human-made) occurring in Upper Silesia (Central Europe). We used multivariate methods and diversity indices for a general analysis, comprising both species richness and the species composition of assemblages. We recorded 50 species in mine subsidence pools from the total of 54 sampled species. These included a high proportion of habitat specialists (typically threatened species). We emphasize that secondary habitats (e.g. spontaneously originated mine subsidence pools) should not a priori be regarded as ecological traps, because these often are the available habitats with highest quality. These habitats significantly outweigh ponds in species richness and proportion of habitat specialists. The conservation potential of specific secondary habitats lies in the fact that these habitats can substitute for very rare natural wetlands often restricted to higher elevations. We assume that high diversity in this type of secondary habitats is not random, but rather that it depends on environmental heterogeneity caused by a specific allogenic succession process occurring as a direct consequence of mining.     

Abundance, body size and movement patterns of a tropical treefrog in continuous and fragmented forests in the Brazilian Amazon

Phyllomedusa tarsius is a hylid frog that breeds in ponds located in a range of habitats from continuous forests to severely disturbed matrix habitats in Central Amazon. During three reproductive seasons, we followed the movement patterns, measured body size and registered abundance and residency time of this species in five habitats: pasture, Vismia regrowth, Cecropia regrowth, 1 and 10 ha forest fragments, and continuous forest. The frog captures were strongly correlated with rainfall in all disturbed habitats, but not in continuous forest, probably because individuals respond more directly to rainfall patterns in more open habitats. Males in disturbed habitats were smaller than those found in continuous forest, perhaps as a result of differences in habitat quality. Males remained at sites for longer periods in fragments and continuous forest compared to matrix habitats. Here again, the quality and suitability of breeding sites in matrix habitats may be lower than in continuous forest resulting in the need for more movement. We found bigger subpopulations in matrix habitat ponds and a higher percentage of individuals moving among them when compared to continuous forest ponds. Constant movement of individuals among disturbed subpopulations decreases population isolation and increases interbreeding among different subpopulations. No movement between individuals from continuous forest ponds and disturbed habitats was observed. This suggests that the disturbed habitat subpopulations are not acting as sink subpopulations for continuous forest populations. The maintenance of individuals in fragments is more dependent on local conditions for reproduction and on subpopulations in the matrix habitat than on recruitment of individuals from populations in continuous forest.     

Forecasting faunal and floral homogenization associated with human population geography in North America

Human population and urbanization is unprecedented in its rate of growth and geographic scope. With the help of humans, exotic species have piggybacked their way to distant lands, which in combination with the loss of endemic native species, has led to the convergence of biological communities toward common and ubiquitous forms. However, the extent to which this “biotic homogenization” varies along gradients of human population size and urbanization remains mostly unexplored, especially at broad spatial scales. The present paper combines a recent conceptual model of homogenization with estimates of species invasions and extinctions to provide the first estimates of homogenization for five major taxonomic groups - land birds, freshwater fish, terrestrial mammals, plants, and freshwater reptiles and amphibians - at the continental-scale of North America (exclusive of Mexico). On average, the greatest levels of biotic homogenization were predicted for plants (22%) and fishes (14%), followed by reptiles/amphibians (12%), mammals (9%) and birds (8%). Substantial spatial variation in predictions of community similarity exists and emphasize that the outcome of species invasions and extinctions may not only increase community similarity, but may also decrease it (i.e., differentiation). Homogenization is predicted to be greatest for fish in southwestern and northeastern US, highest in eastern North America for plants, greatest for birds and mammals along the west coast of North America, and peak in southern US for reptiles and amphibians. We show that predicted change in community similarity for all taxonomic groups is positively related to human population size and urbanization, thus providing the first quantitative linkage between human population geography and homogenization for a number of major taxonomic groups at the continental-scale of North America. Our study helps identify regional hotspots of biotic homogenization across North America, thus setting the stage for future studies where more directed investigations of biotic homogenization along urban gradients can be conducted.     

Scale-dependent homogenization: Changes in breeding bird diversity in the Netherlands over a 25-year period

Changes in breeding bird diversity in the Netherlands between 1973-1977 and 1998-2000 were evaluated by testing three hypotheses related to the loss of biodiversity: (1) species diversity is declining, (2) biotic homogenization is increasing and (3) rare species are declining more severely than abundant species. Using data collected for two successive national breeding bird atlases, changes in diversity were assessed at different spatial scales (local, regional and national) and among species characteristic for different landscapes (farmland, woodland, heathland, wetland, coastal habitats and urban habitats). National species richness, diversity and equitability had increased between the two atlas periods, with more species increasing than decreasing in range and abundance. Most species in the large groups of woodland and wetland birds showed positive trends, whereas most in the smaller groups of heathland, reed-breeding and meadow birds showed negative trends. However, findings varied between regions and localities. Increases in species richness occurred mainly in regions in the low-lying, western part of the country which were previously relatively poor in species. By contrast, species richness decreased in some previously species-rich regions in the eastern part of the country. This has resulted in a homogenization of breeding bird communities between regions. We advocate the conservation and restoration of regional identity as a priority for landscape planning in the Netherlands. We did not find a clear relation between species abundance and trends, although both rare and very abundant species tended to decrease on average.     

贵州省关岭县和惠水县农业外来入侵植物调查与分析

贵州省地处中国西南地区,是生物多样性最丰富的地区之一,亦是受外来入侵物种威胁的重灾区之一。全面摸清外来入侵植物的发生种类及分布情况,可为外来入侵植物的预防预警和综合治理提供科学依据,提升外来物种入侵防控能力。本研究以贵州省中部的关岭布依族苗族自治县和中南部的惠水县为调查点,采用样方法对关岭县74个样点和惠水县64个样点进行实地调查,明确外来入侵植物种类、统计发生生境及分布频数等分布格局信息,并通过查阅文献分析其原产地、生活型等特征。结果表明,两个县共发现24科56种农业外来入侵植物,其中菊科物种占绝对优势（关岭占比29.55%,惠水占比33.33%）,其次是苋科（关岭13.64%,惠水11.11%）、豆科（关岭6.82%,惠水6.67%）、茄科（关岭6.82%,惠水4.44%）,并以一年生草本植物（关岭80.85%,惠水86.96%）为主。本研究首次在贵州省发现了逃逸至野外的柳叶马鞭草和粉绿狐尾藻自然繁殖种群,确证了其入侵特性。紫茎泽兰、三叶鬼针草、一年蓬、水花生、小飞蓬、野老鹳草、粗毛牛膝菊等广泛分布于调查样点,为两县的主要恶性外来入侵植物。农业外来入侵植物已适应当地的各种生态环境,并主要分布于荒地、农田、路边等人为干扰频繁生境,对当地的农业生态环境、人类活动和自然生态系统造成了威胁。两县外来入侵植物种类多、分布范围广、适应性强、繁殖速度快、繁殖能力强,建议尽快系统性摸清贵州省的农业外来入侵植物种类及危害程度,并加强对恶性外来入侵物种的监测和扩散动态趋势研究,为农业外来入侵植物的预防预警和综合治理提供科学依据。     

Patterns of nonindigenous herpetofaunal richness and biotic homogenization among Florida counties

Recent studies of geographic patterns of nonindigenous species richness suggest that a few key biogeographic and anthropogenic factors explain much of the variation in the richness of established species. It remains unknown, however, if the factors identified in these studies are taxon- and scale-specific or if general rules apply broadly across taxa and spatial scales. To address this issue, I used multiple regression analysis to identify factors that contribute significantly to variation in nonindigenous herpetofaunal richness at a relatively small spatial scale, the county level, in Florida, USA. Additionally, I used the Jaccard similarity index to determine if nonindigenous species affect the biotic similarity of the herpetofaunas of Floridian counties. In the regression analysis, county latitude strongly and negatively affected nonindigenous herpetofaunal richness, explaining approximately two-thirds of the variation in this variable. To a smaller degree, human population and university presence both related positively with nonindigenous herpetofaunal richness. Several other variables, including county land area, were not significantly related to nonindigenous herpetofaunal richness. The consistent importance of human population to nonindigenous species richness in this and past studies suggests that the influence of anthropogenic factors may be universal and are as or more important than the natural biogeographic factors that generally relate with native species richness. No evidence of overall homogenization was found based on Jaccard index values. However, a significant relationship between homogenization scores and distance between counties suggests that the effect of nonindigenous herpetofaunal richness on the similarity of county biotas is scale-dependent, such that adjacent counties tend to experience homogenization, while distant counties tend to experience differentiation as a result of the presence of nonindigenous herpetofauna. The results of this and similar studies may be useful in predicting the introduction and spread of nonindigenous species and in evaluating the effects of such introductions on native biodiversity.     

Commonness and rarity in plants with special reference to the Sheffield flora part III: Taxonomic and evolutionary aspects

Despite adaptive radiation and ecological overlap families of angiosperms are not equally equipped to exploit the habitats created by modern methods of land use. In the Sheffield region of Central England, the most successful families include an unusually high proportion of species which combine the ability to exploit fertile habitats with the capacity for prolific regeneration by seed. The more evolutionary primitive families (as indicated by the index of Sporne, 1980) tend to be represented by rare species confined to infertile and relatively undisturbed habitats, while the more advanced families include many common species of widespread occurrence in recent and man-made habitats.It is suggested that differences in the ecological amplitude of families in the present are strongly affected by ancestral ecological specialisations which probably coincided with (or may even have been one of the major causal factors in) the differentiation of families at a time long before man's impact on the planet became marked.It is concluded that differences in the ecological history of families are highly relevant to the study and to the conservation of contemporary species and populations.     

Commonness and rarity in plants with special reference to the Sheffield flora Part I: The identity,distribution and habitat characteristics of the common and rare species

By reference to extensive vegetation surveys the habitats of common and rare herbaceous plants and small (<1 m) woody species have been compared for the Sheffield region of Central England.Common species are frequent at sites of high fertility, are strongly represented in habitats which are heavily disturbed or of recent origin and generally have a wide geographical and ecological range in the Sheffield region and within Britain as a whole.Many of the rare species are restricted to the lowland half of the region and most of the species which have become extinct from the region in the recent past were associated with lowland agricultural areas where the pressures of changing land use are greatest. Rare species are concentrated within less fertile sites, particularly those with calcareous soils, and they are often present in species-rich vegetation in ancient habitats. Many rare species have a narrow ecological range, some appear restricted to ‘intermediate’ habitats (either ecoclines or ecotones) and a high proportion are near the northern limit of their geographical range.No single ecological characteristic is totally diagnostic of either common or rare species. Most of the differences between common and rare species in the Sheffield region may be interpreted in terms of the availability of suitable habitats within the region with common species occupying common, and rare species less common, habitats.     

Large-scale correlates of alien plant invasion in Catalonia (NE of Spain)

Identification of the main correlates of the invasion process is a fundamental step in alien species management at the regional scale. This paper explores the main climatic, territorial, and anthropic correlates of alien plant species richness and percentage in Catalonia (NE of Spain), by means of GIS techniques. We used floristic data collected in FLORACAT per UTM 10 km × 10 km to set up the number and the percentage of alien species. The association of these variables with climate, topography, landscape, human settlement, and geographic position was explored by means of stepwise regression models applied on the axes obtained from principal component analysis. The significance of the resulting correlates was tested using the modified t test of Dutilleul to remove the effects of spatial autocorrelation. PCA reduced the 22 variables to 12 principal components (PC) that explained 90% of the cumulative variance. Regression models were highly significant and captured a high proportion of total variance (adjusted r² = 0.70 for alien species richness and r² = 0.56 for alien species percentage). Both alien species richness and percentage were mainly correlated to PC summarising variables concerning climate, habitat and landscape heterogeneity, and potential anthropogenic disturbance. However, while these PC exhibited similar weights on alien species richness, species percentage was mainly determined by climate. Implications for conservation are discussed considering a future scenario of climate warming and increasing land use change in Mediterranean areas.     

Biotic homogenization and conservation prioritization

Quantitative studies of biotic homogenization can provide useful insights into conservation problems when used appropriately, but can be dangerously misleading when they are not. By separating the concept of biotic homogenization at the global scale from the study of biotic homogenization at spatially- and temporally-explicit scales, researchers can avoid many of the subtle pitfalls inherent in homogenization studies.     

The suitability of weed risk assessment as a conservation tool to identify invasive plant threats in East African rainforests

We tested the ability of an international Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) protocol to predict invasion status of 230 alien plant species introduced via a botanical garden to tropical rainforest in Tanzania. The reliability and accuracy of WRA in discriminating between invaders and non-invaders was independently assessed using field data on species demography and distribution. The WRA rejected 83% of known invaders, and accepted 74% of non-invaders. Only 1% of accepted species were known invaders at the site. WRA performance varied among different growth forms, and underestimated the risks arising from palm species. Among those species that had naturalised, the WRA was better at identifying invaders of open rather than forest habitats. The WRA score was significantly correlated with how widespread species had become at the site, suggesting some capacity to predict spatial spread at a landscape scale. Knowledge of propagule pressure and residence time did not increase explanatory power. These results indicate that the WRA was able to discriminate between invaders and non-invaders with accuracy comparable to similar assessments in temperate and sub-tropical regions. It could be made more effective by weighting traits important in tropical forests e.g. certain growth forms, shade tolerance etc. more heavily. Such a modified WRA could be used successfully elsewhere in the palaeotropics as a screening tool to identify the risk of invasion arising from plants introduced for agroforestry, horticulture or landscaping. Given the increasing pressures on tropical forests and importance of agroforestry to local economies, the WRA protocol represents a useful conservation tool.     

Urban domestic gardens (IX): Composition and richness of the vascular plant flora, and implications for native biodiversity

Garden floras interact with native biodiversity by providing resources for wildlife and by acting as a source of non-native species. Understanding the composition and richness of garden floras will help evaluate the relationships between these floras and the wider environment. The composition and richness of vascular plant floras were measured in a stratified sample of 61 urban, domestic gardens in Sheffield, UK, based on complete garden inventories. The entire garden flora contained 1166 species, of which 30% were native and 70% alien. Across gardens, aliens showed lower occupancy than natives, comprising 79% of the species recorded only once. The garden flora contained 146 plant families, which included 72% of the native, naturalised or recurrent casual families recorded in the wild in Britain and Ireland. Gardens contained on average 45% natives, irrespective of garden size. Garden area explained 30% of the variation in species richness within individual gardens. Doubling garden size led to an increase in species richness of 25%. The garden flora comprised 10% annuals, 63% biennial/perennials, 18% shrubs and 8% trees; shrubs were disproportionately composed of alien species. The floras of urban domestic gardens probably form the greatest source of potentially invasive alien plants. However, the plants found in domestic gardens have closer affinities with the uncultivated flora than is often perceived, and their role for wildlife in gardens deserves reassessment. Declines in garden size that result from recommendations on the density of new housing are unlikely to have major consequences for plant richness in gardens.     

Restoration, reconciliation, and reconnecting with nature nearby

Biotic homogenization is in many ways a function of spatial and temporal scale. Another aspect of this phenomenon that perhaps receives somewhat less attention is related to “the scale of human experience”, particularly in the way that people view homogenization. Here, I examine the relationship between scale and efforts to reverse the loss of native species using two case studies in the Midwestern U.S. Both of these are focused on the restoration of prairie, one in a rapidly urbanizing area and one in a rural context. At a large reserve in a rural area, it is possible to restore prairie at a scale that is sufficient to accommodate populations of grassland obligate birds. This is an unrealistic goal, however, for small reserves in the midst of suburban development and rapidly escalating land prices. Small reserves in this context may be suitable for taxa with smaller habitat requirements, but also have a vital role in reversing biotic homogenization by enabling people to experience nature directly. Not only does this improve their quality of life, but may also foster support for efforts to maintain biodiversity in more remote locations. Thus, the goals of conservation and ecological restoration at various points on the land-use gradient are somewhat different but complementary and inter-related. Conservation scientists have an obvious role in the restoration and management of large reserves, but they also have an important part to play in restoring and maintaining elements of biodiversity in cities and suburbs.     

Recent changes in plant species diversity in urban Pelham Bay Park, 1947-1998

Anthropogenic activity and natural successional processes negatively affected native plant species diversity in Pelham Bay Park, New York City. From 1947 to 1994, 25.5% of the native species were extirpated from this urban park, a rate of 2.9 species lost per year. Native species of the flora declined from 71.7% in 1947 to 59.6% in 1994-98. Native herbaceous species were significantly more likely to be extirpated than native woody species. Native species of meadow-type habitats were significantly more likely to be extirpated than species found in woodlands. By comparison, the number of non-native species found increased by 39.7% since 1947. Each of the different habitats in the park had a greater proportion of alien species in 1994-1998 than in 1946-1947. The key element in creating support for preserving the extant biodiversity of Pelham Bay Park is conservation education that stresses the importance of the city's biological heritage.