ecosystem importance: managing vegetation from invasion (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, November 03, 2023, 16:20 (176 days ago) @ David Turell

An analytic study:

https://ecoevocommunity.nature.com/posts/meta-analysis-identifies-native-priority-as-a-...

" Biological invasion is considered to be one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss with potential negative socio-economic impacts. Invasive alien plant species are well adapted to rapid establishment and exploitation of the resources of disturbed environments, therefore disturbed and intensively managed habitats may support high levels of invasive species. Ecological restoration – defined by the Society for Ecological Restoration as the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or destroyed – is increasingly recognized as a relevant tool to combat land degradation and biodiversity loss, and also invasive alien species. As the invasion problem becomes increasingly serious, there is an urgent need to develop more innovative, effective and proactive strategies to help improve the resistance of restored communities to invasion, limiting the establishment and further spread of invasive alien species.

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"The long-term results show that seeding with native species has been the best method as opposed to mowing and N immobilization, although our system - open sandy grasslands - still has relatively large remnants in the landscape that act as a source of native propagules. In addition to increasing the richness and cover of target species, seed-based restoration has also been most successful in reducing the cover of invasive alien species, although it has not completely eliminated invasive species.

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"Based on our quantitative review of 48 papers published in relation to seed-based ecological restoration experiments, we demonstrate the potential of seed-based ecological restoration in controlling the establishment and growth of invasive alien species up to 40 %, that can be increased to 50 % by involving the priority effect. Already providing one week of advantage for native species can visibly suppress invasive alien species, although cannot eliminate them. Seeding functionally similar species generally had a neutral effect on invasive alien species, as also shown by previous reviews in the topic, probably partly due to the fact that resources are often not limiting in restoration and in experimental settings. High-density seeding is effective in controlling invasive alien species, but there can be thresholds above which further increases in seeding density may not result in increased invasion resistance.

"The study also highlights the need to integrate research across geographical regions, global invasive species and potential resistance mechanisms to improve the predictive capacity of invasion ecology and to identify best restoration practices to prevent and control invasive alien species."

Comment: it is increasingly important to create these studies so we can adequately manage all ecosystems properly, providing the huge human population its food supply.