Invasion of the cosmopolitan species Echinochloa colona into herbaceous vegetation of a tropical wetland system
| dc.creator | Andrew, S. M. | |
| dc.creator | Totland, Q. | |
| dc.creator | Moe, S. R. | |
| dc.date | 2018-10-12T05:38:07Z | |
| dc.date | 2018-10-12T05:38:07Z | |
| dc.date | 2004 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-10-25T08:51:32Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-10-25T08:51:32Z | |
| dc.description | Ecological research,2014; 29: 969-979 | |
| dc.description | The negative effects of alien plant species on ecosystem structure and functions are increasingly recognised, and efforts to control these species are vital to restore degraded ecosystems and preserve biodiver- sity. However, we lack a full understanding of factors that determine alien species invasions along spatial gradients in herbaceous vegetation of tropical systems. We therefore examined the effects of community prop- erties, environmental variables and human-related dis- turbance factors on the invasion of the alien grass Echinochloa colona (L.) Link at small- and large scales in the Kilombero Valley wetland, Tanzania. Generalized additive mixed models showed that E. colona abundance on a small scale was negatively related to above-ground biomass and evenness of resident species, whereas E. colona abundance was positively related to grazing intensity. On a large scale, biomass (negatively related to E. colona abundance) and distance to river (positive) were important in explaining E. colona abundance. These findings support the assertion that different fac- tors may contribute to the invasion of alien plant species at different spatial scales, as also reported in many temperate systems. Overall, our results show that suc- cessful invasion of alien species is a function of plant community properties, human-related disturbance and favourable environmental conditions. Effective man- agement strategies should consider mitigations that can increase the biomass and evenness of native species and a reduction of grazing pressure to restore the wetland and conserve biodiversity. | |
| dc.format | application/pdf | |
| dc.identifier | 969–979 | |
| dc.identifier | https://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/123456789/2638 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/91500 | |
| dc.language | en | |
| dc.publisher | The Ecological Society of Japan 2014 | |
| dc.subject | Biomass | |
| dc.subject | Diversity | |
| dc.subject | Evenness | |
| dc.subject | Alien species | |
| dc.subject | Spatial scales | |
| dc.subject | Human-related disturbance | |
| dc.title | Invasion of the cosmopolitan species Echinochloa colona into herbaceous vegetation of a tropical wetland system | |
| dc.type | Article |