Occurrence of invasive alien plant species in the floodplain forests along the Mura River in Slovenia

Marinšek, Aleksander; Kutnar, Lado

doi:10.18054/pb.v119i4.4933

Cited by 14 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…For example, logging and skidding trails on many plots and waterpipe-system reconstruction across the Brdo IM site caused severe soil damage and understory plant removal. Furthermore, increases in diversity from post-disturbance succession could be offset by community homogenization due to invasive species [44] and nitrogen deposition [60].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to several anthropogenic land uses and more settlements at lower altitudes, lowland forests in this area were more affected in the past and are still under pressure from several degradative processes, such as intensified land use, fragmentation, and pollution [40][41][42]. In recent times, floodplain and other lowland forests are increasingly exposed to invasion of alien plant species [43,44]. A variety of disturbance agents, such as windstorms, ice storms, wet snow, and insect outbreaks, caused marked damage to forests in Slovenia in the last decades [39].…”

Section: Disturbance Events and Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of Disturbance on Understory Vegetation across Slovenian Forest Ecosystems

Kutnar

Nagel

Kermavnar

2019

Forests

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The herbaceous understory represents a key component of forest biodiversity across temperate forests of Europe. Here, we quantified changes in the diversity and composition of the forest understory layer in representative Slovenian forest ecosystems between 2004/05 and 2014/15. In total, 60 plots were placed across 10 different managed forest types, ranging from lowland deciduous and mid-altitude mesic mixed forests to mountain conifer forests. This network is part of an international network of sites launched within the ICP Forests Programme aimed to assess the condition of forests in Europe. To examine how disturbance influenced understory dynamics, we estimated the disturbance impacts considering both natural and/or anthropogenic disturbances that cause significant damage to trees and to ground-surface layers, including ground-vegetation layers and upper-soil layers. Species richness across 10 sites (gamma diversity) significantly decreased from 272 to 243 species during the study period, while mean species richness per site did not significantly change. The mean value of site level Shannon diversity indices and evenness significantly increased. The cover of most common plant species increased during the monitoring period. The mean value of disturbance estimates per site increased from 0.8% in 2004/05 (ranging from 0% to 2.5%) to 16.3% in 2014/15 (ranging from 5.0% to 38.8%), which corresponded to a reduction in total vegetation cover, including tree-layer cover. More disturbed sites showed larger temporal changes in species composition compared to less disturbed sites, suggesting that forest disturbances caused understory compositional shifts during the study period. Rather than observing an increase in plant diversity due to disturbance, our results suggest a short-term decrease in species number, likely driven by replacement of more specialized species with common species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Disturbance Events and Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Disturbance on Understory Vegetation across Slovenian Forest Ecosystems

Kutnar

Nagel

Kermavnar

2019

Forests

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“…CS is an indirect method in which the 25 mm wide paper strip was subjected to a sonic pulse of 160 Hz using Pulse Propagation Meter PPM-5R (Lawson-Hemphill Inc., Swansea, MA, USA), and the measurement step was fixed at cm. The speed of sound was calculated according to Equation (1).…”

Section: Clark Stiffnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They displace native vegetation, destroy agricultural land, and cause billions of dollars of damage to the European economy every year. Therefore, they are considered a disturbance with negative impacts on native species and ecosystems [1]. Many of them are removed daily and mainly burned.…”

Section: Introduction 1backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fibers Obtained from Invasive Alien Plant Species as a Base Material for Paper Production

Starešinič

Podgornik

Javoršek

et al. 2021

Forests

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Invasive alien plant species (IAPS) are one of the biggest challenges in European ecosystems, displacing local vegetation, destroying agricultural land, and causing billions of dollars of damage to the European economy every year. Many of them are removed daily and mainly burned. In this work, we investigated the possibilities of using plants as feedstock for paper production. Papers made from three invasive alien plants, i.e., Knotweed, Goldenrod, and Black locust, were studied and compared with commercial office paper. The study included testing of: (1) structural properties—basic physical properties, grammage, thickness, density and specific volume, moisture content, and ash content; (2) physical and dynamic mechanical properties—tensile strength, Clark stiffness, viscoelastic properties; (3) colorimetric properties of prints; (4) effect of UV light on ageing; and (5) study of cellulose fiber structure and morphology by microscopy. The results suggested that the paper produced can be used as commercial office paper, considering that the paper is slightly dyed. Such papers can also be used for special purposes that present a natural style and connection to nature. The papers produced can also be used for printing documents that are meant to be kept.

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“…Indeed, as much as 28.5% of all of the data on IAS in Slovenia are from riparian zones which represents the highest proportion of all habitat types considered [41]. A study by Wagner et al [42] covering wider area, as well as others (e.g., [43]) also report that riparian ecosystems are among most prone to invasions by IAS.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complex Undisturbed Riparian Zones Are Resistant to Colonisation by Invasive Alien Plant Species

Zelnik

Klenovšek

Gaberščik

2020

Water

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We investigated the presence and abundance of invasive alien plant species (IAS) in the riparian zones of rivers in relation to different environmental parameters. We surveyed the spatial and human-influenced characteristics of the riparian zones, river channels, and land use along seven Slovenian rivers. We further monitored the presence and abundance of IAS with different natural properties and different human impacts to define the characteristics of non-infected and heavily infected reaches. Special attention was given to different life forms of IAS. The presence and abundance of IAS positively correlated with distance from river source, current velocity, and water depth, and negatively correlated with altitude, naturalness of the land use, width and completeness of the riparian zone, height and structure of its vegetation, and condition of the riverbed and banks. Annuals prevailed among IAS at 48%, with 37% herbaceous perennials and 15% woody species. The vine Echinocystis lobata was the most abundant IAS, which was found in 179 out of the 414 river reaches analysed, followed by the annual Impatiens glandulifera and the herbaceous perennial Solidago gigantea. E. lobata was spread over the native riparian vegetation and was affected by the natural gradients of the rivers in terms of altitude and distance from the river’s source. Reaches without IAS significantly differed from reaches colonised with IAS in the width of riparian zone, vegetation height and structure, land-use next to the river, and distance from the source. As IAS in riparian zones affect riparian and aquatic communities, there is the need for management practices to maintain and establish complex riparian zones that are resistant to IAS colonisation.

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Occurrence of invasive alien plant species in the floodplain forests along the Mura River in Slovenia

Abstract: Background and purpose: The objectives of our study were to identify invasive alien plant species (IAS)

Cited by 14 publications

References 27 publications

Effects of Disturbance on Understory Vegetation across Slovenian Forest Ecosystems

Effects of Disturbance on Understory Vegetation across Slovenian Forest Ecosystems

Fibers Obtained from Invasive Alien Plant Species as a Base Material for Paper Production

Complex Undisturbed Riparian Zones Are Resistant to Colonisation by Invasive Alien Plant Species

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