Plant invasions in riparian areas of the Middle Danube Basin in Serbia

Abstract

Riparian areas experience strong invasion pressures worldwide and represent important points of spread for invasive alien plants (IAPs) in the European mainland. The Danube Basin is a well-known point of high plant invasion levels. Given that the middle part of the Danube Basin is critically understudied and the general lack of data for Serbia, the study aimed to provide an insight into the spatial patterns of plant invasions in the riparian areas of Serbia (Middle Danube Basin area). A total of 250 field sites, distributed along 39 rivers (nine catchment areas) and six canal sections, were studied during a four-year period (2013–2016) for the presence and abundance of IAPs. At the landscape scale, we studied distribution patterns of IAPs, differences in invasion levels in different catchment areas and between rivers and canals. At the local scale, we investigated how the proximity to roads/railway lines, housing areas, different land-use types (primarily agriculture), and dominant vegetation on site related to invasion patterns. Of the 26 studied IAPs, those with a well-known weedy behavior, long history of cultivation and strong affinity for riparian areas prevailed in the study area. Riparian zones of the Danube catchment exhibited the highest invasion levels in terms of IAPs richness and abundance, followed by the catchment areas of the Timok, Sava and Zapadna Morava rivers. Surprisingly, the Danube-Tisa-Danube canal network had the lowest invasion level. At the local scale, agriculture in proximity of the field site and dominant vegetation on site were observed as significant predictors of the invasion level. On the other hand, proximity to roads/railway lines and housing areas was not related to the invasion level. Finally, our study provides the first systematic overview of IAPs’ distribution data for riparian areas of the Middle Danube Basin in Serbia, which could provide a basis for long-term monitoring of IAPs and development of future management plans.

Assessing and Predicting the Distribution of Riparian Invasive Plants in Continental Portugal

“…At higher altitudes, richness values of invasive alien plants decrease quickly. The relationship between increasing altitude and decreasing IAP richness has been often observed (Pyšek et al, 2002;Chytrý et al, 2005Chytrý et al, , 2009An delković et al, 2022), and has been attributed to the generally milder climatic conditions found in low-altitude areas (Chytrý et al, 2005), benefiting IAP that mostly originate from warm areas (Pyšek et al, 2003). On the other hand, the IAP found at higher altitudes are mostly generalists with broad climate tolerances and able to thrive across a wide range of altitudes (Alexander et al, 2011;Essl et al, 2019).…”

Catchment area, environmental variables and habitat type as predictors of the distribution and abundance of Portulaca oleracea L. in the riparian areas of Serbia

“…The presence of P. oleracea was studied at 250 riparian field sites, distributed along 39 rivers and 6 canal sections of the Danube-Tisa-Danube system of canals (Anđelković, 2019;Anđelković et al 2022). The studied rivers were selected with the aim of encompassing nine catchment areas (CAs) in Serbia and thereby ensuring the best geographical coverage of the study area.…”

Spatial Distribution Pattern and Risk Assessment of Invasive Alien Plants on Southern Side of the Daba Mountain Area

“…In addition, the riverbank habitat is a fragile ecotone which is vulnerable to invasion [35][36][37][38] and is one of the habitat types with the most significant number of IAS [39,40]. Many IAS drive hydrological changes to form an easier-to-invade riparian environment by altering the nature of habitats [41][42][43].…”

“…Many IAS drive hydrological changes to form an easier-to-invade riparian environment by altering the nature of habitats [41][42][43]. They usually start along the watercourses and expand further inland [36]. For example, the invasion rate of Alternanthera philoxeroides is exceptionally high on both sides of river channels.…”