Assessing the environmental impacts of invasive alien plants: a review of assessment approaches

Bartz, Robert; Kowarik, Ingo

doi:10.3897/neobiota.43.30122

Cited by 103 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 106 publications

(216 reference statements)

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“…The absence of significant differences between numbers of alien species in alien Robinia vs. native Betula stands in our study does not support the invasional meltdown hypothesis. This contrasts with a study on the same invasive tree species in a rural North American setting [147] and highlights the need to consider the context dependence in assessing invasion impacts [149,150]. In our study, the high propagule pressure of alien species in Berlin obviously translates to a considerable but not dominating share of alien species of about 25% across all forest types.…”

Section: Total Native and Alien Richnesscontrasting

confidence: 75%

“…In North American cities, for example, highly competitive alien vine species can decrease species richness and tree regenerations considerably [64,157]. Such contrasting results from different regions highlight the need to consider context dependence of ecological effects in invasion assessments [150]. Gaertner et al [158] argue for differentiating strategies for managing alien species in urban environments between species that have been classified as invasive or non-invasive.…”

Section: Total Native and Alien Richnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Emerging Urban Forests: Opportunities for Promoting the Wild Side of the Urban Green Infrastructure

et al. 2019

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Many cities aim to increase urban forest cover to benefit residents through the provision of ecosystem services and to promote biodiversity. As a complement to traditional forest plantings, we address opportunities associated with “emerging urban forests” (i.e., spontaneously developing forests in cities) for urban biodiversity conservation. We quantified the area of successional forests and analyzed the species richness of native and alien plants and of invertebrates (carabid beetles, spiders) in emerging forests dominated by alien or native trees, including Robinia pseudoacacia, Acer platanoides, and Betula pendula. Emerging urban forests were revealed as shared habitats of native and alien species. Native species richness was not profoundly affected by the alien (co-)dominance of the canopy. Instead, native and alien plant species richnesses were positively related. Numbers of endangered plants and invertebrates did not differ between native- and alien-dominated forest patches. Patterns of tree regeneration indicate different successional trajectories for novel forest types. We conclude that these forests (i) provide habitats for native and alien species, including some endangered species, (ii) allow city dwellers to experience wild urban nature, and (iii) support arguments for adapting forests to dynamic urban environments. Integrating emerging urban forests into the urban green infrastructure is a promising pathway to sustainable cities and can complement traditional restoration or greening approaches.

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Section: Total Native and Alien Richnesscontrasting

confidence: 75%

Section: Total Native and Alien Richnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging Urban Forests: Opportunities for Promoting the Wild Side of the Urban Green Infrastructure

et al. 2019

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“…Biotic invaders resulted in the homogenization of biota at a global scale and thereby affected the environment and ecosystem services indirectly (Pejchar and Mooney, 2009;Shackleton et al, 2019;Bartz and Kowarik, 2019). Socio-economic impacts of invasion are mainly visualized through human health assessment (Rumlerová et al, 2016;Fu et al, 2018;Bartz and Kowarik, 2019). The IAPS, particularly 100 flora and fauna invaders as per GISD (2013), which affect the environment and economy of both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, are listed in Table 1.…”

Section: Impacts Of Plant Invasion On Environment Ecosystem Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasive alien plant species: Their impact on environment, ecosystem services and human health

Kumar

Singh

2020

Ecological Indicators

233

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Ecological perturbations caused by biotic invasion have been identified as a growing threat to global sustainability. Invasive alien plants species (IAPS) are considered to be one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss and thereby altering the ecosystem services and socio-economic conditions through different mechanisms. Although the ecological impacts of IAPS are well documented, there is a dearth of studies regarding their economic quantification, livelihood considerations, biotechnological prospects (phytoremediation, bioenergy, phytosynthesis of nanoparticles, biomedical, industrial applications etc.) and human health risk assessments of IAPS. In this context, the current panoramic review aimed to investigate the environmental, socio-ecological and health risks posed by IAPS as well as the compounded impact of IAPS with habitat fragmentation, climate and land use changes. To this end, the need of an integrated trans-disciplinary research is emphasized for the sustainable management of IAPS. The management prospects can be further strengthened through their linkage with geo-spatial technologies (remote sensing and GIS) by mapping and monitoring the IAPS spread. Further, the horizon of IAPS management is expanded to ecological indicator perspectives of IAPS, biosecurity, and risk assessment protocols with critical discussion. Moreover, positive as well as negative implications of the IAPS on environment, health, ecosystem services and socio-economy (livelihood) are listed so that a judicious policy framework could be developed for the IAPS management in order to mitigate the human health implications.

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“…In addition, given the challenges in predicting which NNS are likely to have the most severe impacts, we support the use of the precautionary principle in the risk management stage of the risk analysis of NNS (Ahteensuu and Sandin 2012). Explicitly and publicly acknowledging the evidence included, and the choices made in NNS impact assessments, is vital for the legitimacy of any NNS management policy (Bartz and Kowarik 2019). Therefore, we suggest how one can build a comprehensive, transparent and reproducible database, and argue that applying this public database to available impact prioritization protocols will allow anyone to track and (re-)evaluate NNS rankings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Advancing impact assessments of non-native species: strategies for strengthening the evidence-base

Strubbe¹,

White²,

Edelaar³

et al. 2019

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The numbers and impacts of non-native species (NNS) continue to grow. Multiple ranking protocols have been developed to identify and manage the most damaging species. However, existing protocols differ considerably in the type of impact they consider, the way evidence of impacts is included and scored, and in the way the precautionary principle is applied. These differences may lead to inconsistent impact assessments. Since these protocols are considered a main policy tool to promote mitigation efforts, such inconsistencies are undesirable, as they can affect our ability to reliably identify the most damaging NNS, and can erode public support for NNS management. Here we propose a broadly applicable framework for building a transparent NNS impact evidence base. First, we advise to separate the collection of evidence of impacts from the act of scoring the severity of these impacts. Second, we propose to map the collected evidence along a set of distinguishing criteria: where it is published, which methodological approach was used to obtain it, the relevance of the geographical area from which it originates, and the direction of the impact. This procedure produces a transparent and reproducible evidence base which can subsequently be used for different scoring protocols, and which should be made public. Finally, we argue that the precautionary principle should only be used at the risk management stage. Conditional upon the evidence presented in an impact assessment, decision-makers may use the precautionary principle for NNS management under scientific uncertainty regarding the likelihood and magnitude of NNS impacts. Our framework paves the way for an improved application of impact assessments protocols, reducing inconsistencies and ultimately enabling more effective NNS management.

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Assessing the environmental impacts of invasive alien plants: a review of assessment approaches

Cited by 103 publications

References 106 publications

Emerging Urban Forests: Opportunities for Promoting the Wild Side of the Urban Green Infrastructure

Emerging Urban Forests: Opportunities for Promoting the Wild Side of the Urban Green Infrastructure

Invasive alien plant species: Their impact on environment, ecosystem services and human health

Advancing impact assessments of non-native species: strategies for strengthening the evidence-base

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