Changes in the composition and distribution of alien plants in South Africa: An update from the Southern African Plant Invaders Atlas
By Lesley Henderson, John R. U. Wilson. 2017
138 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Background : Data on alien species status and occurrence are essential variables for the monitoring and reporting of biological invasions. The Southern African Plant Invaders Atlas (SAPIA) Project has, over the past 23 years, atlassed alien plants growing outside of cultivation. Objectives : To document changes in the alien plant taxa recorded in SAPIA, assess trends in invasive distributions and explore effects of management and regulations. Method : The numbers of alien plant taxa recorded were compared between May 2006 and May 2016, and changes in the extent of invasions at a quarter-degree squares (qds) scale were compared between 2000 and 2016. The effectiveness of regulations and interventions was assessed in terms of the relative change in the extent of invasions. Results : As of May 2016, SAPIA had records for 773 alien plant taxa, an increase of 172 since 2006. Between 2000 and 2016, the number of qds occupied by alien plants increased by ~50%, due both to ongoing sampling and to spread. Successful classical biological control programmes have reduced the rate of spread of some taxa and in a few cases have led to range contractions. However, other interventions had no detectable effect at a qds scale. Conclusions : South Africa has a growing number of invasive alien plant species across an increasing area. More taxa should be listed under national regulations, but ultimately more needs to be done to ensure that management is strategic and effective. SAPIA is a valuable tool for monitoring alien plant status and should be developed further so that invasions can be accurately tracked over time.
Subfields: Insect Science, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Plant Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/183358d73c7add06d853a79cf4abddced13c1d67
How researchers see this paper
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In Insect Science
- D. Richardson
- John R. U. Wilson
- Mirijam Gaertner
- B. V. van Wilgen
- Petr Pyšek
- Jan Pergl
- V. Jarošı́k
- I. Kühn
In Nature and Landscape Conservation
- D. Richardson
- John R. U. Wilson
- B. V. van Wilgen
- Mirijam Gaertner
- Laure Gallien
- Petr Pyšek
- Wilfried Thuiller
- Jan Pergl
In Plant Science
- John R. U. Wilson
- D. Richardson
- Laure Gallien
- Mirijam Gaertner
- B. V. van Wilgen
- Petr Pyšek
- Martin A. Nuñez
- M. van Kleunen
Citations in the corpus
- Biological Invasions in South Africa: An Overview (2020, background): “…of plant invasions has increased markedly in recent years [as of May 2016, SAPIA had records for 773 alien plant taxa, an increase of 172 since 2006; and between 2000 and 2016, the number of quarter degree grid cells occupied by alien plants has increased by ~50% (Henderson and Wilson, 2017)].”
- Small urban centres as launching sites for plant invasions in natural areas: insights from South Africa (2017, background): “Relatively good data on the distribution of invasive plants exist at the landscape scale for this catchment, mainly from the management plans and other records of the aforementioned organizations and from the Southern African Plant Invader Atlas (SAPIA; for details see Henderson and Wilson 2017).”