Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Invasive plant species in the Swedish flora: developing criteria and definitions, and assessing the invasiveness of individual taxa

Tyler, Torbjörn LU ; Karlsson, Thomas ; Milberg, Per ; Sahlin, Ullrika LU and Sundberg, Sebastian (2015) In Nordic Journal of Botany 33(3). p.300-317
Abstract
In a north European context, identifying invasive species is far from trivial because the vegetation has been influenced by human activities for thousands of years. New species have immigrated continuously since the end of the last glaciation, both spontaneously and through direct or indirect help by man. Still, newly immigrated species may be problematic in a nature conservation context and may harm biodiversity, and cause changes in ecosystem services. In this study, all 721 presently established vascular plant and bryophyte taxa known to have been introduced to, or to have immigrated to, Sweden since the year 1700 are assessed for their invasive potential. The assessment is based on six components considered relevant for their... (More)
In a north European context, identifying invasive species is far from trivial because the vegetation has been influenced by human activities for thousands of years. New species have immigrated continuously since the end of the last glaciation, both spontaneously and through direct or indirect help by man. Still, newly immigrated species may be problematic in a nature conservation context and may harm biodiversity, and cause changes in ecosystem services. In this study, all 721 presently established vascular plant and bryophyte taxa known to have been introduced to, or to have immigrated to, Sweden since the year 1700 are assessed for their invasive potential. The assessment is based on six components considered relevant for their invasiveness: 1) ability to compete in natural vegetation, 2) ability to form dense populations, 3) realized dispersal ability, 4) gene flow to native relatives, 5) time since immigration and 6) distance to their native range. Although the relative importance of these components is context dependent, a compound general index of invasive concern is proposed and calculated for all taxa. The index of invasive concern is validated by comparing it to assessments by a Bayesian Belief Network in which the influences of the same six components are assigned by expert opinions. In addition, rough estimates of the present-day abundance of each taxon in Sweden are presented. The origin, biology and possible impact of the 150 taxa with the highest index values are discussed. Based on the index of invasive concern, Campylopus introflexus, Epilobium adenocaulon, E. ciliatum, Rosa rugosa, Lamiastrum galeobdolon subsp. argentatum, Orthodontium lineare, Solidago canadensis, Calystegia sepium subsp. spectabilis, Rubus armeniacus and Prunus serotina are identified as the ten most problematic alien vascular plant and bryophyte taxa in Sweden. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nordic Journal of Botany
volume
33
issue
3
pages
300 - 317
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000355734200002
  • scopus:84930375629
ISSN
0107-055X
DOI
10.1111/njb.00773
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
9d65e915-a7b7-4d90-9a19-d503be49323d (old id 7605100)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:22:52
date last changed
2022-01-25 22:35:44
@article{9d65e915-a7b7-4d90-9a19-d503be49323d,
  abstract     = {{In a north European context, identifying invasive species is far from trivial because the vegetation has been influenced by human activities for thousands of years. New species have immigrated continuously since the end of the last glaciation, both spontaneously and through direct or indirect help by man. Still, newly immigrated species may be problematic in a nature conservation context and may harm biodiversity, and cause changes in ecosystem services. In this study, all 721 presently established vascular plant and bryophyte taxa known to have been introduced to, or to have immigrated to, Sweden since the year 1700 are assessed for their invasive potential. The assessment is based on six components considered relevant for their invasiveness: 1) ability to compete in natural vegetation, 2) ability to form dense populations, 3) realized dispersal ability, 4) gene flow to native relatives, 5) time since immigration and 6) distance to their native range. Although the relative importance of these components is context dependent, a compound general index of invasive concern is proposed and calculated for all taxa. The index of invasive concern is validated by comparing it to assessments by a Bayesian Belief Network in which the influences of the same six components are assigned by expert opinions. In addition, rough estimates of the present-day abundance of each taxon in Sweden are presented. The origin, biology and possible impact of the 150 taxa with the highest index values are discussed. Based on the index of invasive concern, Campylopus introflexus, Epilobium adenocaulon, E. ciliatum, Rosa rugosa, Lamiastrum galeobdolon subsp. argentatum, Orthodontium lineare, Solidago canadensis, Calystegia sepium subsp. spectabilis, Rubus armeniacus and Prunus serotina are identified as the ten most problematic alien vascular plant and bryophyte taxa in Sweden.}},
  author       = {{Tyler, Torbjörn and Karlsson, Thomas and Milberg, Per and Sahlin, Ullrika and Sundberg, Sebastian}},
  issn         = {{0107-055X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{300--317}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Nordic Journal of Botany}},
  title        = {{Invasive plant species in the Swedish flora: developing criteria and definitions, and assessing the invasiveness of individual taxa}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/njb.00773}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/njb.00773}},
  volume       = {{33}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}