An ecoregion-based approach to evaluate invasive plant species pools

By

Lázaro-Lobo, Adrián
Campos, Juan A.
Díaz, Tomás Emilio
Fernández Pascual, Eduardo
González-García, Víctor
Marchante, Hélia
Romero, Maria Inmaculada
Jimenez-Alfaro, Borja

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2024

Original Publication

NeoBiota : advancing research on alien species and biological invasions

Volume

96

Pages

105--128

Subjects

Cantabrian Mixed Forest ecoregion , Iberian Peninsula , invaded habitats , invasion level , invasion status , Invasive alien plant species , invasive species impacts , Management

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sophia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.96.116105

 

Abstract

Invasive alien species are an important component of global change, threatening biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, economy, and human health. The number of alien species that attain the invasive status has experienced an exponential increase in recent years, leading some government agencies and stakeholders to allocate substantial resources to early detection, control, mitigation, and eradication programs. To develop effective nature conservation strategies, it is crucial to understand the invasive status of alien species and to identify priority species for management at spatial scales with a biogeographical basis. Despite significant progress in producing lists of alien species at the country level, a standard methodology for species assessment within ecological regions (i.e., regions with similar environmental or biogeographical characteristics) is still lacking. Here, we develop a systematic approach to determine invasion status and to prioritize invasive alien plant species within an ecoregion. We apply this approach in the Cantabrian Mixed Forests ecoregion, which encompasses biogeographically related areas from N Portugal, NW Spain, and SW France, and is strongly affected by plant invasions. By combining scientific evidence with expert opinion on the ecological characteristics of alien plants, we identified 175 invasive plant species in the study ecoregion, of which 37 cause massive environmental and/or socio-economic impacts. For each species, we provide comprehensive information and recommendations for scientists, land managers, policy makers, and other stakeholders under a biogeographical basis. This information includes species characteristics, invasion status/level, population trends, geographic locations and range size, local abundance, environmental and socio-economic impacts, and invaded habitats. We also accounted for administrative divisions within the ecoregion to facilitate the use of such evaluations in local-scale management and conservation plans. Our framework may be applied to any ecoregion worldwide, enhancing the assessment and management of invasive species pools within biogeographically meaningful regions.