Alien vegetation and native biota in tropical Australia: the impact of Mimosa pigra

Braithwaite, Richard W.; Lonsdale, W. M.; Estbergs, JA

doi:10.1016/0006-3207(89)90118-3

Cited by 216 publications

(168 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…It provides poor habitat for many native animals, uses huge amounts of water, and intensifies the fire regime . Similarly, Mimosa pigra has transformed 80 000 ha of tropical wetland habitat in northern Australia into monotonous tall shrubland (Braithwaite et al 1989), excluding native waterbirds. The South American shrub, Chromolaena odorata or Siam weed, is not only an aggressive invader in both Asia and Africa, suppressing the regeneration of primary forest trees, but also provides feeding niches that can sustain other pests (Boppré et al 1992).…”

Section: Community-and Ecosystem-level Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotic Invasions: Causes, Epidemiology, Global Consequences, and Control

Mack

Simberloff

Lonsdale

et al. 2000

Ecological Applications

2,871

3,750

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Abstract. Biotic invaders are species that establish a new range in which they proliferate, spread, and persist to the detriment of the environment. They are the most important ecological outcomes from the unprecedented alterations in the distribution of the earth's biota brought about largely through human transport and commerce. In a world without borders, few if any areas remain sheltered from these immigrations.The fate of immigrants is decidedly mixed. Few survive the hazards of chronic and stochastic forces, and only a small fraction become naturalized. In turn, some naturalized species do become invasive. There are several potential reasons why some immigrant species prosper: some escape from the constraints of their native predators or parasites; others are aided by human-caused disturbance that disrupts native communities. Ironically, many biotic invasions are apparently facilitated by cultivation and husbandry, unintentional actions that foster immigrant populations until they are self-perpetuating and uncontrollable. Whatever the cause, biotic invaders can in many cases inflict enormous environmental damage: (1) Animal invaders can cause extinctions of vulnerable native species through predation, grazing, competition, and habitat alteration. (2) Plant invaders can completely alter the fire regime, nutrient cycling, hydrology, and energy budgets in a native ecosystem and can greatly diminish the abundance or survival of native species. (3) In agriculture, the principal pests of temperate crops are nonindigenous, and the combined expenses of pest control and crop losses constitute an onerous ''tax'' on food, fiber, and forage production. (4) The global cost of virulent plant and animal diseases caused by parasites transported to new ranges and presented with susceptible new hosts is currently incalculable.Identifying future invaders and taking effective steps to prevent their dispersal and establishment constitutes an enormous challenge to both conservation and international commerce. Detection and management when exclusion fails have proved daunting for varied reasons: (1) Efforts to identify general attributes of future invaders have often been inconclusive. (2) Predicting susceptible locales for future invasions seems even more problematic, given the enormous differences in the rates of arrival among potential invaders. (3) Eradication of an established invader is rare, and control efforts vary enormously in their efficacy. Successful control, however, depends more on commitment and continuing diligence than on the efficacy of specific tools themselves. (4) Control of biotic invasions is most effective when it employs a long-term, ecosystemwide strategy rather than a tactical approach focused on battling individual invaders. (5) Prevention of invasions is much less costly than post-entry control. Revamping national and international quarantine laws by adopting a ''guilty until proven innocent'' approach would be a productive first step.Failure to address the issue of biotic invasions could effectivel...

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Section: Community-and Ecosystem-level Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotic Invasions: Causes, Epidemiology, Global Consequences, and Control

Mack

Simberloff

Lonsdale

et al. 2000

Ecological Applications

2,871

3,750

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Similar suggestions were made for the impact of forest invaders in the eastern USA (Wyckoff & Webb 1996;Martin 1999), Europe (Kwiatkowska et al 1997) and tropical islands (Lavergne et al 1999), and for tree invasions into fynbos shrubland in South Africa (Holmes & Cowling 1997a,b). Braithwaite et al (1989) went further, and measured a reduction in light availability under the exotic shrub Mimosa pigra, but even they acknowledged that more work was required to identify the mechanism of impact.…”

Section: Mechanisms Of Impact On Community Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms underlying the impacts of exotic plant invasions

Levine

Vilà

D’Antonio

et al. 2003

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

1,417

1,171

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Although the impacts of exotic plant invasions on community structure and ecosystem processes are well appreciated, the pathways or mechanisms that underlie these impacts are poorly understood. Better exploration of these processes is essential to understanding why exotic plants impact only certain systems, and why only some invaders have large impacts. Here, we review over 150 studies to evaluate the mechanisms underlying the impacts of exotic plant invasions on plant and animal community structure, nutrient cycling, hydrology and fire regimes. We find that, while numerous studies have examined the impacts of invasions on plant diversity and composition, less than 5% test whether these effects arise through competition, allelopathy, alteration of ecosystem variables or other processes. Nonetheless, competition was often hypothesized, and nearly all studies competing native and alien plants against each other found strong competitive effects of exotic species. In contrast to studies of the impacts on plant community structure and higher trophic levels, research examining impacts on nitrogen cycling, hydrology and fire regimes is generally highly mechanistic, often motivated by specific invader traits. We encourage future studies that link impacts on community structure to ecosystem processes, and relate the controls over invasibility to the controls over impact.

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“…For example, invasion of exotic grass species through many tree dominated systems has caused a large rise in fire frequency through changes in ground litter flammability (D'Antonio and Vitousek, 1992). Conversely, encroachment of trees into grass or shrub dominated systems may reduce surface fuel loads thereby suppressing fire (Braithwaite et al, 1989;Doren and Whiteaker, 1990). Fire affects soil C cycling in a large number of ways over different time scales (Certini, 2005), which makes it very difficult to reliably predict the net effect of these changes in fire regime on R. The existence of complex, context dependant interactions between species and disturbance agents and other factors, means that the effects of individual species on R, while potentially large, cannot be confidently predicted from general principles but should be examined on a case by case basis.…”

Section: B Metcalfe Et Al: Plant Communities As Drivers Of Soil mentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant communities as drivers of soil respiration: pathways, mechanisms, and significance for global change

2011

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Abstract. Understanding the impacts of plant community characteristics on soil carbon dioxide efflux (R) is a key prerequisite for accurate prediction of the future carbon (C) balance of terrestrial ecosystems under climate change. However, developing a mechanistic understanding of the determinants of R is complicated by the presence of multiple different sources of respiratory C within soil -such as soil microbes, plant roots and their mycorrhizal symbionts -each with their distinct dynamics and drivers. In this review, we synthesize relevant information from a wide spectrum of sources to evaluate the current state of knowledge about plant community effects on R, examine how this information is incorporated into global climate models, and highlight priorities for future research. Despite often large variation amongst studies and methods, several general trends emerge.Mechanisms whereby plants affect R may be grouped into effects on belowground C allocation, aboveground litter properties and microclimate. Within vegetation types, the amount of C diverted belowground, and hence R, may be controlled mainly by the rate of photosynthetic C uptake, while amongst vegetation types this should be more dependent upon the specific C allocation strategies of the plant life form. We make the case that plant community composition, rather than diversity, is usually the dominant control on R in natural systems. Individual species impacts on R may be largest where the species accounts for most of the biomass in the ecosystem, has very distinct traits to the rest of the community and/or modulates the occurrence of major natural disturbances. We show that climate vegetation models incorporate a number of pathways whereby plants can affect R, but that simplifications regarding allocation schemes and drivers of litter decomposition may limit model accuracy. We also suggest that under a warmer future climate, many plantCorrespondence to: D. B. Metcalfe (daniel.metcalfe@slu.se) communities may shift towards dominance by fast growing plants which produce large quantities of nutrient rich litter. Where this community shift occurs, it could drive an increase in R beyond that expected from direct climate impacts on soil microbial activity alone.We identify key gaps in knowledge and recommend them as priorities for future work. These include the patterns of photosynthate partitioning amongst belowground components, ecosystem level effects of individual plant traits, and the importance of trophic interactions and species invasions or extinctions for ecosystem processes. A final, overarching challenge is how to link these observations and drivers across spatio-temporal scales to predict regional or global changes in R over long time periods. A more unified approach to understanding R, which integrates information about plant traits and community dynamics, will be essential for better understanding, simulating and predicting patterns of R across terrestrial ecosystems and its role within the earthclimate system.

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Alien vegetation and native biota in tropical Australia: the impact of Mimosa pigra

Cited by 216 publications

References 13 publications

Biotic Invasions: Causes, Epidemiology, Global Consequences, and Control

Biotic Invasions: Causes, Epidemiology, Global Consequences, and Control

Mechanisms underlying the impacts of exotic plant invasions

Plant communities as drivers of soil respiration: pathways, mechanisms, and significance for global change

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