There are more than a hundred invasive plant species in Europe. This is reflected in the first database of field studies on the impacts of invasive plants on species, communities and native ecosystems in Europe, prepared by a scientific team involving the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC) and the Pyrenees. Institute of Ecology (IPE-CSIC).
The first free access database harmonized on a continental scale, the name of the database is ‘Plant EffectEurope‘ is based on data from 266 scientific publications describing the results of 4,259 field studies. 104 invasive species in 29 European countriesAs reported by CSIC. The study was published in the journal ‘NeoBiota’.
There is ‘Plantimpactseurope’ information about invasive plants that affect other plants, animals, and microbes. This information is displayed based on all trophic levels (herbivores, parasites, plants, pollinators, predators, omnivores, decomposers, and symbionts) and numerous organisms. ecosystem processes.
A third of the studies collected in ‘Plantimpactseurope’ focus on five invasive species: Reynoutria japonica, Impatiens glandulifera, Solidago gigantea, Carpobrotus edulis And Robinia pseudoacacia. AND More than half of the study was conducted in temperate and boreal forests and temperate grasslands.. In the Baltic and Balkan countries, on the other hand, there is little work in the desert and semi-arid scrublands, subtropical forests and high mountains.
“The database provides information on whether invasive species have an increase, decrease or neutral effect on the ecological variable under investigation,” says Montserrat Vilà, EBD-CSIC researcher and coordinator of the study. In this regard, he underlines that “‘Plantimpactseurope’” will guide research on the conditions that invasive plants may cause. significant effects“.
Significant effects
The database will be updated as new field studies are published. ecological impacts of invasive species. “We hope to do more studies on species that are locally rare and have limited distribution,” says Vilà.
“Impacts of invasive species may vary greatly among invaded areas and may depend on the ecological variable examined,” the report states. “For each study, we recorded whether the effects were statistically significant and noted their direction (i.e., decrease or increase in the response variable compared to uninvaded sites),” the authors write.
Most studies have focused on native species, followed by studies on communities.. Effects on plants have been studied more frequently than effects on other taxa and trophic groups. 43% of studies reported significant effectsResponse variables showed more significant decreases (26%) than increases (17%).
Significant impacts were more frequent on species and communities rather than ecosystems; and more in plants than in animals or microbes.
To improve knowledge of the impacts of invasive plant species, the authors advocate for more studies on this topic. species that are still locally rare and have limited distributionand about how they alter plant-soil-microbe interactions.
In addition to EBD-CSIC and IPE-CSIC, research staff from the University of Seville, the University of Alcalá and the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) also participated in the execution of this project. Authors: Montserrat Vilà, Alejandro Trillo, Pilar Castro-Díez, Belinda Gallardo and Sven Bacher.
The database is of interest for academic, management and environmental policy purposes.As highlighted by CSIC. It is mainly financed by the European Regional Development Foundation (SUMHAL, LIFEWATCH, POPE).
Database of invasive plants in Europe: https://figshare.com/s/0a890d22bf5632fe5cb5