Invasive aquatic plants and the aquarium and ornamental pond industries

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to clarify the common traits of a successful aquatic invasive plant. The biological traits of aquatic plants sold by aquarium and ornamental pond stores in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario were analysed using logistic regression analyses (LRM). The multinomial LRM successfully predicts group identity 63% of the time, clearly differentiating native invasive and native non invasive from alien invasive (SI), but not ailen non invasive (ANI) from AI. In contrast, the binomial LRM effectively discriminates ANI from AI taxa 77% of the time. The variable that best discriminated between AI and ANI are type of propagation strategies, number of propagation strategies used, number of dispersal mechanisms used, minimum temperature, and sales volume of aquatic plants as a proxy for introduction. Recognizing the common traits of successful invaders allows for the identification of ANI taxa that have the potential to become invaders, prior to introduction, thus preventing future invasions.