Potential distribution and environmental threat of Pueraria lobata

Abstract

Pueraria lobata (kudzu) is an invasive weed originating from East Asia. Local infestations have been recently observed in Switzerland and northern Italy; however, the potential for P. lobata to spread and to become abundant and damaging in the Alpine countries is not known. The aim of this study was to project the potential distribution of P. lobata under current climate in Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia and parts of northern Italy using the ecoclimatic model CLIMEX. In addition, areas at risk were identified where P. lobata may occur as a strong and aggressive competitor. This was derived from the plants’ distribution and climatic requirements in the south-eastern United States where the heaviest infestations occur. Projections show that 60.84% of the total land area of northern Italy, followed by 47.08% of Slovenia, 21.01% of Austria and only 1.97% of Switzerland are climatically suitable. P. lobata may become a troublesome weed due to very favourable climatic conditions only in some parts of northern Italy and Slovenia. In climatically suitable areas, any occurrence of the plant should be carefully observed. In infested and highly climatically suitable areas, there is a need for strategic management to prevent further spread of P. lobata.

Grazed Pannonian grassland beta-diversity changes due to C4 yellow bluestem

“…The coenological role of yellow bluestem will probably change as climate change disturbs the present balance of C 3 /C 4 species. Therefore, studying the ecological behaviour of invasive species remains a hot topic in community ecology [63,64].…”

Summary of the experiences of Hungarian botanical gardens with terrestrial plant species included in the European Union’s list of invasive alien species

“…Elterjedt kifejezés a fajra és az általa okozott károkra: "the weed that ate the South" azaz kb. "a gaz, mely megette a Délt", Európában eddig Svájcból és Olaszországból jelezték kivadulását, továbbá jelen van Ukrajnában és a Kaukázusban (EPPO 2007, Follak 2011. Egy kutatás szerint hazánk délnyugati részén képes lenne túlélni, ezért inváziója nem zárható ki (Follak 2011).…”

“…"a gaz, mely megette a Délt", Európában eddig Svájcból és Olaszországból jelezték kivadulását, továbbá jelen van Ukrajnában és a Kaukázusban (EPPO 2007, Follak 2011. Egy kutatás szerint hazánk délnyugati részén képes lenne túlélni, ezért inváziója nem zárható ki (Follak 2011). A vácrátóti botanikus kertben rendszeresen tövig visszafagy az ott tartott példány, de túléli a teleket.…”

Transpiration cooling effect of climber greenwall with an air gap on indoor thermal environment

“…It adapts to a wide range of climates (EPPO, 2007;Follak, 2011;Forseth and Innis, 2004;Hinman, 2011;Mitich, 2000;Tsugawa, 1986) and flourishes on many soil types: nutrient-deficient, sandy, clayey, or loamy (Mitich, 2000). In our previous study, we found that kudzu was the best suited of the five vine species we examined for long-term CGWs in Japan, because it is a perennial vine and its percentage coverage and vine length were comparable to those of fastgrowing annual vine species such as Momordica charantia and Ipomoea tricolor (Koyama et al, 2013).…”