Alien flora of D.R. Congo: improving the checklist with digitised herbarium collections

Bordbar, Farzaneh; Meerts, Pierre Jacques

doi:10.1007/s10530-021-02691-5

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…The first record data of the alien plant species used in this study were collated from bibliographic repositories and digitized herbarium databases, which increased the resolution of the data manyfold compared to the previous study. Our study, therefore, supported the importance of herbarium data in invasive species research, e.g., to study the pattern of range expansion of alien species 40 and assemble national-level checklists of alien species, 41 especially for the countries where global databases are often incomplete.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Alien flora are accumulating steadily in China over the last 80 years

Banerjee,

Feng,

Bhowmick

et al. 2024

iScience

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Alien flora are accumulating steadily in China over the last 80 years

Banerjee,

Feng,

Bhowmick

et al. 2024

iScience

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“…We identified 428 naturalized alien species in Nigeria, which is a major update of the 102 previously reported in the GRIIS database (Borokini et al 2019). This naturalized flora can be compared, in terms of richness, with 436 naturalized species in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Bordbar and Meerts 2022), 113 in Sudan and South Sudan (Omer et al 2021), 108 in Algeria (Meddour et al 2020), 548 in Southern Africa (Henderson 2007), 129 in Egypt (El-Beheiry et al 2020, 291 in Ghana (Ansong et al 2019), and over 180 in Angola (Figueiredo and Smith 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was followed by the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS), developed by the Invasive Species Specialist Group (http://griis.org/), which also provided country-level checklists of alien and invasive species (Pagad et al 2022). Most sub-Saharan African countries lack published checklists or databases of invasive alien plants, except for South Africa (Henderson and Wilson 2017), Namibia ), Swaziland (SNTC, 2016, Zimbabwe (Maroyi, 2006(Maroyi, , 2012, East Africa (Witt et al 2018), Ghana (Ansong et al 2019), Egypt (El-Beheiry et al 2020), Algeria (Meddour et al 2020), Sudan (Omer et al 2021), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Bordbar and Meerts 2022). Efforts to bridge the gap in alien plant species inventory data in Africa have resulted in some studies (see Pyšek et al 2017 for their overview) and global databases such as the Invasive Species Compendium (CABI, 2017) and the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD, 2017), which covers countries in the region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alien flora of Nigeria: taxonomy, biogeography, habitats, and ecological impacts

Borokini

Kortz

Anibaba

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Biological invasions remain one of the greatest threats to biodiversity and livelihoods, and this is predicted to increase due to climate change and globalization. In this study, we produced a comprehensive checklist of alien plants in Nigeria from online flora databases, herbarium records, published field surveys, and questionnaires administered to botanical gardens. The resulting alien flora was classified into naturalized, invasive, and cultivated plants. We then fitted a random forest model to identify the attributes which facilitate the naturalization of alien plants in Nigeria. We also used separate chi-squared tests to investigate if the frequency of these attributes is statistically significant between the naturalized and invasive plants. The results include 1,381 alien plant taxa, comprising 238 naturalized, 190 invasive, and 953 cultivated species. The naturalized and invasive plants (428 species) spread across 91 families, with Fabaceae and Poaceae having the highest representations. The random forest model showed that life forms and local economic uses were the most important drivers of alien plant naturalization in Nigeria. Chi-squared tests revealed a non-random distribution of life forms (P < 0.001), higher frequencies of naturalized plants from the Indomalaya (P = 0.006) and the Neotropics (P = 0.04), greater introductions during the British colonial rule, and are used mostly for medicinal, ornamental, food, and fodder. Naturalized and invasive plants were recorded in all regions of Nigeria and are mostly found in urban ruderal and agricultural landscapes. This baseline information can support further ecological studies and conservation actions in Nigeria.

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“…Invasive species are under-studied in sub-Saharan Africa compared to other parts of the world [10,16], with the spatial expansion of invasive alien plants and its impact on the phytodiversity receiving little recent attention in the literature. The south-eastern part of the DRC, which has some of the largest copper and cobalt deposits in the world [17,18], is no exception to this trend [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Restoration of Degraded Landscapes along the Urban–Rural Gradient of Lubumbashi City (Democratic Republic of the Congo) by Acacia auriculiformis Plantations: Their Spatial Dynamics and Impact on Plant Diversity

Useni Sikuzani,

Khoji Muteya,

Yona Mleci

et al. 2024

Ecologies

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This study examines the spatio-temporal dynamics of Acacia auriculiformis in Lubumbashi city, southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in the context of rapid urbanization following the liberalization of the mining sector. The city has experienced significant demographic growth and unplanned spatial expansion, resulting in a decrease in vegetation cover. The introduction and proliferation of A. auriculiformis, an exotic tree species, have occurred without strategic planning or monitoring. Utilizing digitized remote sensing imagery from 2006, 2014, and 2021, we quantified the expansion of A. auriculiformis along the urban–rural gradient. Additionally, a floristic inventory conducted in 2021 provided insights into tree diversity within A. auriculiformis plantations. Our findings indicate a substantial increase in the number and area of A. auriculiformis patches, predominantly in urban zones. However, the patch values, highest in 2006, were shown to decline by 2021, especially in urban areas. The floristic inventory identified 39 tree species within A. auriculiformis plantations, including predominant species such as Albizia lebbeck, Albizia alba, and Leucaena leucocephala. Notably, 20 of these species are exotic, with half being invasive. In contrast, the 19 indigenous species were primarily found in peri-urban areas. While a greater number of tree species were observed in urban zones, larger average diameters were recorded in peri-urban zones. The persistence and expansion of A. auriculiformis in a landscape characterized by declining tree cover suggest its potential sustainability in this setting. However, A. auriculiformis plantations have facilitated the establishment of predominantly exotic and potentially invasive species. These findings highlight the need for the strategic management of A. auriculiformis and associated exotic flora to mitigate their spread and to consider their role in the restoration of degraded lands.

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Alien flora of D.R. Congo: improving the checklist with digitised herbarium collections

Cited by 7 publications

References 54 publications

Alien flora are accumulating steadily in China over the last 80 years

Alien flora are accumulating steadily in China over the last 80 years

Alien flora of Nigeria: taxonomy, biogeography, habitats, and ecological impacts

The Restoration of Degraded Landscapes along the Urban–Rural Gradient of Lubumbashi City (Democratic Republic of the Congo) by Acacia auriculiformis Plantations: Their Spatial Dynamics and Impact on Plant Diversity

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