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Plant traits can often determine invasives potential
PARTNERS: University of North Carolina Asheville's National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (NEMAC), Brown University, Illinois State Museum, University of Missouri, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of California-Berkeley, University of Hong Kong, Taiwan National University, University of Georgia, and other Forest Service units
SUMMARY: Identifying potentially invasive species is important and necessary to predict and manage their threat to forest health. Ecologists have generally agreed that there is no simple biological predictor of invasion success, but certain biological traits tend to be associated with invasion success more than others. Life history and genetic information are critical for developing early warning/prevention systems, predictive simulation models under various climatic scenarios, risk assessment, and management plans. The major questions to be addressed include: (1) What are the common and unique life history characteristics and traits of 4,000 plant species introduced into the United States? and (2) What kinds of species are most invasive and whether such invasiveness is related to particular life history/genetic traits? Southern Research Station scientists working with the Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center (EFETAC) are compiling data for biological traits including life cycle, growth form, woodiness, deciduousness, pollinating agent, fruit type, dispersal agent, and photosynthetic pathway. Researchers will also collect information regarding introduction pathways and vectors, introduction time and locations, and current distribution.
STATUS: Ongoing
PROGRESS: A large database is being built with the National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (NEMAC), UNCA.
Ricklefs, Robert E., Guo, Qinfeng, and Hong Qian. 2008. Growth form and distribution of introduced plants in their native and non-native ranges in Eastern Asia and North America. Diversity and Distributions 14: 381-386. (PDF)
LINKS:
National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (NEMAC)
University of California-Berkeley
CONTACT: Qinfeng Guo, EFETAC Threat Assessment Team Ecologist, qguo@fs.fed.us or 828-257-4246
