Invasion rate of the alien species Acacia saligna within coastal sand dune habitats in Israel

Bar, Pua; Cohen, Oded; Shoshany, Maxim

doi:10.1560/8bk5-gfvt-nq9j-tln8

Cited by 41 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Similar behaviour was observed in other ecosystems characterised by dry sandy soils, (e.g. South-African fynbos, coastal sand dunes of Israel) in which A. saligna invades areas with open or patchy vegetation (Mehta 2000, Bar Kutiel et al 2004 and it was attributed to its good competitive strategy for using water resources (Witkowski 1991, Yelenik et al 2004.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…In confirmation of this, river distance (a proxy of soil moisture) seems to favour A. saligna growth in this Adriatic sector. The observed correlation highlighted the tendency of the species to grow and develop in the most humid areas of arid coasts of the Mediterranean climatic region (Bar Kutiel et al 2004;Gutierres et al 2011). Due to its preference for mesic conditions on arid landscapes, A. saligna is commonly associated with areas close to the river courses on both inland sectors and dunes (Gutierres et al 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…saligna is one of the most invasive taxa of the genus Acacia (Richardson and Rejmánek 2011). The species was introduced into the coastal areas of South Africa and of the Mediterranean basin for reforestation, dune stabilisation and ornamental purposes (Bar Kutiel et al 2004, Gutierres et al 2011. It expanded in an uncontrolled manner in coastal areas of Algeria, Cyprus, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Morocco, Portugal, South Africa and Spain (Wilson et al 2011, Yelenik et al 2004.…”

Section: Target Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modelling Acacia saligna invasion on the Adriatic coastal landscape: An integrative approach using LTER data

Marzialetti¹,

Bazzichetto²,

Giulio³

et al. 2019

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Invasive Alien Species (IAS) pose a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services worldwide. Even if preventing biological invasions should be the most cost-effective way to minimise the impact of IAS on biodiversity, new efforts are necessary to identify early signs of invasion and to assess invasion risk. In this context, the implementation of invasive Species Distribution Models (iSDMs) could represent a sound instrument that merits further research. Acaciasaligna is an Australian vascular plant introduced into Europe during the last half century and is one of the most aggressive IAS in the Mediterranean basin. In this work, we model the occurrence of A.saligna in the coastal landscapes of central Italy (Adriatic coast) while accounting for the simultaneous effect of multiple factors (propagule pressure, abiotic, biotic factors). The iSDM for A.saligna was implemented on a representative tract of the Adriatic coast in central Italy (Molise region), largely included in two Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites which actively contribute to the description of the considered ecosystem status and possible future trends. By using a Generalised Linear Model (GLM) with a binomial distribution of errors based on field and cartographic geo-referenced data, we examined the statistical relationship between the occurrence of A.saligna and a comprehensive set of environmental factors. The iSDM effectively captured the role of the different variables in determining the occurrence of A.saligna in the coastal dunes. Its occurrence is primarily related to Wooded dunes with Pinuspinea and/or P.pinaster (EU Habitat 2270) and distance from the sea and, to a lesser extent, with distance from roads and rivers. This research provides a first exploratory analysis of the environmental characteristics that promote the rapid growth and development of A.saligna in Italian dune ecosystems, identifying the habitats that are mainly affected by the invasive process in coastal areas and, by doing so, contributing to filling the gap between theory and practice in conservation decision-making. Finally, the LTER network benefitted from this research, confirming its relevance in providing useful information for modelling and monitoring invasion processes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: Target Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Modelling Acacia saligna invasion on the Adriatic coastal landscape: An integrative approach using LTER data

Marzialetti¹,

Bazzichetto²,

Giulio³

et al. 2019

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“…The annual growth rate in coverage of R. monosperma (15%) was significantly higher than the 2.9% found for the alien Acacia saligna in an analysis of data over 34 years by Kutiel et al (2004b) in coastal dunes of Israel. It was similar to values registered by Kollmann et al (2009) for the alien Rosa rugosa (16.4%; 18 years analyzed) in coastal dunes of Denmark.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Long-term spatio-temporal expansion of the native-invasive Retama monosperma on coastal dunes: Importance of land-use and natural dispersal vectors

Vallés¹,

Gallego‐Fernández²,

Dellafiore³

et al. 2013

Flora - Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants

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a b s t r a c tExpansion of invasive species inducing sands stabilization is becoming an important ecological problem in coastal dunes in some parts of the world. Retama monosperma, an endemic to coasts of SE Spain and NE of Morocco, late-colonizing shrub occurring in sandy coastal areas, was planted along the coast of SW Spain during the 20th century to stabilize dunes. In recent decades, the species has spread rapidly, becoming invasive, and sometimes incurring notable changes in its environment and plant community. The expansion patterns of R. monosperma from 1956 to 2001 were described and quantified at the landscape scale within a protected dune system, using GIS. The differential effects on expansion patterns of the main factor controlling the population spread, grazing by domestic livestock and the abundance of wild rabbits, were analyzed comparatively. R. monosperma displays an exponential, invasive-type expansion trend, presenting a mean annual coverage increase of 15% and a mean lateral spread rate of 65.5 m yr −1 from the original population nucleus to the Western and Eastern ends of the study area. The dispersal activity primarily of rabbits and the absence of competing woody species contribute to this rapid expansion. The highest local increases in plant coverage could be related to increased rabbit abundance and to the improved germination rates of seeds which have passed through the rabbit gut. In contrast, areas highly grazed by livestock present the lowest increases, and an open-type plant community is maintained there for a longer time.

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“…Many of these plants have become naturalised and a few have become invasive (Richardson et al, 2011). Invasive Australian Acacia often cover vast areas of natural and agricultural land (Bar Kutiel, Cohen & Shoshany, 2004; Henderson, 2007; Marchante, Freitas & Hoffmann, 2011b) and have significant impacts on natural capital (e.g., reduced water availability) (Le Maitre et al, 2011; Rascher et al, 2011; Cohen & Bar Kutiel, 2017). Their impact has led to chemical and mechanical clearing operations (Van Wilgen et al, 2012) and biological control programs (Impson et al, 2011; Marchante, Freitas & Hoffmann, 2011a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed survival of Australian Acacia in the Western Cape of South Africa in the presence of biological control agents and given environmental variation

Strydom

Veldtman

Ngwenya

et al. 2019

PeerJ

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Studies of invasive Australian Acacia have shown that many seeds are still produced and accumulate in soil stored seed banks regardless of the presence of seed-targeting biological control agents. This is despite claims of biological control success, although there is generally a lack of data on the seed production of invasive Australian Acacia before and after the release of the respective agents. We aimed to quantify seed production and seed survival of invasive Australian Acacia currently under biological control. The seed production and survival (proportion of aborted, predated and surviving seeds) of A. longifolia, A. pycnantha and A. saligna were each studied at four to five sites in the Western Cape of South Africa. The relationships between seed production and stand characteristics were determined and the relative effects of seed predation and abortion on seed survival were established. The investigated invasive Australian Acacia produced many seeds that survived the pre-dispersal stage despite long-term presence of released biological control agents. It was shown that seed crop size is the only significant factor influencing seed survival of the studied Australian Acacia species. Furthermore, the seeds surviving per tree and per square meter were related to tree size. No quantitative evidence was found to suggest that seed-reducing biological control agents are having an impact on the population dynamics of their Australian Acacia hosts. This study illustrates the importance of studying the seed ecology of invasive plants before biological control agents are selected and released.

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Invasion rate of the alien species Acacia saligna within coastal sand dune habitats in Israel

Cited by 41 publications

References 42 publications

Modelling Acacia saligna invasion on the Adriatic coastal landscape: An integrative approach using LTER data

Modelling Acacia saligna invasion on the Adriatic coastal landscape: An integrative approach using LTER data

Long-term spatio-temporal expansion of the native-invasive Retama monosperma on coastal dunes: Importance of land-use and natural dispersal vectors

Seed survival of Australian Acacia in the Western Cape of South Africa in the presence of biological control agents and given environmental variation

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