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

Abstract

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.

Effect of Invasive Alien Species on the Co-Occurrence Patterns of Bryophytes and Vascular Plant Species—The Case of a Mediterranean Disturbed Sandy Coast

“…Our results must consider that the high anthropic pressure on natural communities could be reinforced by the presence of IAS, which were mostly intentionally introduced or escaped from private gardens [69,70]. IAS that were traditionally planted to stabilize sand dunes such as Acacia saligna, might induce a contrary effect in the long period, affecting and disrupting not only native vascular plants communities [71] but also the bryophyte ones. However, to investigate how the presence of IAS influences ecological successions through time, long-term and specific design (e.g., BARCI) and analyses will be necessary.…”

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) promote the growth of the pioneer dune plant of coastal areas

“…The coastal dunes are affected by various natural and anthropogenic factors (White et al, 2019). The intentional or accidental introduction of alien species in dunes (Sun et al, 2017;Malavasi et al, 2018;Marzialetti et al, 2019) increase in the establishment of economic enterprises, inadequate land parceling (Maueua et al, 2007) and the *Corresponding author. E-mail: ros.tvn90@gmail.com.…”

Capturing Coastal Dune Natural Vegetation Types Using a Phenology-Based Mapping Approach: The Potential of Sentinel-2

“…In spite of their high biodiversity value and complex ecosystem functioning, coastal dunes are among the most threatened ecosystems worldwide [33,34]. In the Mediterranean areas, the loss and degradation of coastal dune ecosystems have been particularly severe in the last few decades [34][35][36], with the main threats being urban expansion [10,37,38], coastal erosion [39] and invasion by alien species [40][41][42][43]. In order to prevent these and other endangered habitats from further degradation, all European Member States adopted the Council Directive 92/43/EEC (hereafter Habitats Directive, HD).…”