Transcript Slajd 1

Invasive species
„But the cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) has a far wider
range.: it now occurs in these latitudes on both sides of
the Cordillera across the continent. I saw it in
unfrequented spots in Chile, Entre Rios, and Banda
oriental. In the latter country alone, very many
(probably several hundred) square miles are covered
with one mass of these prickly plants, and are
impenetrable by man or beast. Over the undulating
plains, where these great beds occur, nothing else can
live. Before their introduction, however, I apprehend
the surface supported as in other parts a rank herbage.
I doubt whether any case is on record of an invasion of
so grand scale of one plant over the aborigines”
Charles Darwin 1839: Voyage of the Beagle.
What are invasive species?
Invasive species are those that
•
were accidently introduced into new habitats by
man (alien species)
•
were intentionally introduced into new habitats by
man for commercial purposes
•
were intentionally introduced into new habitats by
man for biological control
•
greatly extended their natural home ranges
towards new areas for instance due to climate
change or human activities (roads, tunnels)
Some well known examples
Colorado Potato beetle
First introduced to Europe in 1877
First record in Poland 1960
Gipsy moth
First introduced into North America
in 1868
Has about 650 different host plants
During outbreaks causes major
damages in softwood forests
Tiger mosquito
Nil perch
The Asian species was first reported from
Houston texas in 1985
Introduced into the great Est African
lakes during the 1950s and 1960s to
improve fishering.
Now established in Brazil, Europe, and New
Zealand
Vectors of yellow and dengue fever, as well as
encephalitis
Changing cimate will promote the spread
towards northern countries
First occurrence in mainland France in 2006.
Now recorded from Belgium, Italy, France,
Balkan region. First deadly infection of
Chikungunya feaver in Italy 2007.
Caused dramatic changes in faunal
and floral composition
Caused algal blooms and
eutrophication
Caused the extinction of more than 200
native fish species (2/3 of all species)
Eichhornia crassipes
Introduced into China from South
America in the 1930s as an
ornamental plant, to provide liestock
food and to control air pollution
Caused reduction of lake areas and let
to the extinction of about 30 fish
species
Reduced lake areas caused climate
changes and changes in water cycling
Marenzelleria viridis
The flatworm was introduced via ship
ballast water (first records 1979)
In the vistula lagoon it has become the
dominant species constituting up to 97%
of the total biomass of the bottom- living
macrofauna
Harmonia axyridis
In the USA unsuccessfully used as aphid
predator in biological control programs since
1916.
Sudden spread in USA since 1980.
Major impact on natural communities of
aphid predators due to its high reproduction
rate.
First observations of the Asian Lady beetle
2001: Belgium
2002: Germany, Netherlands
2004: UK, France
2007: Scandinavia, Poland
2009: Whole of Poland
Unknown harvestman (Opilionida) species
First observed in the
Netherlands (2007)
In 2008 massive invasion
along the Rhine river up to
Switzerland
Species are up to 18 cm in
diameter.
They occur in large colonize of up to
several hundred individuals.
They show colonial movements.
How many species are invasive?
Number of
native species
Number of
invasive species
New Zealand (plants)
1790
1570
Hawaii (plants)
956
861
17591
4465
Tristan de Cunha (plants)
70
97
Campbell Islands (plants)
128
81
South Georgia (plants)
26
54
Southern Africa (freshwater fish)
176
52
California (freshwater fish)
83
52
Berlin (plants)
839
593
Woody perennials
(Southern Australia)
2230
188
Europe (spiders)
3500
80
35
1700
Hawaii (all species)
Great Britain (trees)
Data from McNeely J. A. (1999), Kobelt and Nentwig (2008),
Caley et al. 2008, and Sukopp (1990)
How do alien species come to Hawaii?
Miscellaneous Mails
2%
3%
Baggage
40%
Air cargo
39%
Ship
cargo
16%
25% of all Hawaiian species are alien
A conceptual model of invading species
Human
activities
Disturbance
Changing
land use
Changing
environmental
conditions
Habitat
fragmentation
Invading
species
Changing of
ecosystem
functioning
Changing land
management
Increasing opportunities for invaders
What makes
a species
invasive?
Marcel Rejmanek (1946-
Charcteristics of invasie species
•
r-strategists
•
have high dispersal ability
•
have small genome sizes
•
are habitat or feeding generalists
•
self pollinators (plants)
•
have long flowering periods (plants)
•
have a high proportion of leaf area (grasses)
•
have small seed sizes (in woody plants)
•
occupy often disturbed sites
DNA contents of 148 Californian angiosperms
(from Knight et al. 2005)
What habitats are susceptible to invasions?
•
Early to mid-successional habitats
•
Mesic environments and open water
•
Disturbed habitats
•
Fragmented habitats
Phylogenetic distance from the resident species
„...floras gain by naturalization, proportionally with the number of native
genera and species, far more in new genera than in new species”
Charles Darwin 1959: The Evolution of Species by Means of Natural Selection
Poaceae
shared genera
European genera
Asteraceae
shared genera
European genera
Brassicaceae shared genera
European genera
Number of
European
species NOT
naturalized in
California
466
257
681
762
230
342
Number of
European
species
naturalized in
California
43
69
22
66
12
36
2
<0.0001
<0.0001
<0.05
The analysis of plant species introduced to California shows that
significantly more species of European genera were naturalized
than of shared genera.
(from Rejmanek 1999)
Time lags
Time
lag
(years)
Trees
Shrubs
Time
lag
(years)
Robinia pseudoaacia
152
Mahonia acuifolium
38
Acer negundo
183
Syringa vulgans
124
Prunus serotina
29
Symphoricarpus albus
65
Aesculus
hippocastanum
124
Philadelphus coronarius
183
Quercus rubra
114
Lycium barbarum
70
Ailanthus altissima
122
Cornus stolonifera
76
Populus canadensis
165
Lonicera tatarica
94
Prunus mahaleb
54
Ribes aureum
61
Laburnum anagryroides
198
Colutea arborescens
265
Salix intermedia
112
Cornus alba
84
From introduction to spreading might pass a long time.
Observed time lags from intyroduction to sprading in various trees and
shrubs in the area of Berlin and Brandenburg (Kowarik 1995)
Today’s reading
Invasive species: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_species
Invasive species database: http://www.issg.org/database/welcome/
A different opinion: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/science/09inva.html