Search results for "alien species"
showing 10 items of 104 documents
Alien plant invasions in Mediterranean habitats: an assessment for Sicily
2021
AbstractLevels of plant invasions in different habitat types were assessed in several regional studies, but few of them were from the Mediterranean. Here we compare the levels of vascular plant invasion across habitats and plant communities of Sicily. We used a large dataset of plant species presences/absences in vegetation plots to analyze the invasion patterns across habitats considering biogeography, life form and phenology of alien plants. Vegetation plots were classified based on the EUNIS classification of European habitats. The invasiveness of each species was expressed in terms of its absolute and percentage frequency. Representation of different life forms and phenological patterns…
Vegetation dynamics within afforested coastal areas: regeneration by native species or invasion by alien species?
2017
During the last century, massive reforestation projects along the dunes of the southern Sicily have been carried out. Such interventions, far from being in line with the current trends of close-to-nature silviculture, are, however, particularly interesting to assess the vegetation dynamics in afforestation areas. Furthermore, these kind of interventions may determine two opposite effects, that is renaturalization by native woody species or invasion by alien species. Acacia spp. are among the most widespread and prominent invaders within Mediterranean-climate areas, where they have already shown the capability to deeply change the characters and the functioning of native ecosystems. For inst…
Species Accounts of 100 of the Most Invasive Alien Species in Europe: Ambrosia artemisiifolia Linnaeus, common ragweed (Asteraceae, Magnoliophyta)
2009
International audience
On the occurrence of Eudiaptomus gracilis (G.O. Sars, 1863) (Copepoda: Diaptomidae) in Madeira (Portugal)
2020
Calanoid copepods belonging to the diaptomid genus Eudiaptomus Kiefer, 1932 were collected in an artificial water body on the island of Madeira, Portugal. The morphological and molecular identification of the collected specimens unequivocally proved that they belong to the allochthonous species Eudiaptomus gracilis (G. O. Sars, 1863), possibly unwarily introduced along with fish stockings or ornamental aquatic plants. In the sampled site, the species co-occurred with the non-native cyclopoid copepod Acanthocyclops americanus (Marsh, 1893) and some anomopod species. This is the first record of the species for Portugal and the whole Macaronesia, whereas the possible presence of E. gracilis in…
Diversity and Distribution of the Inland Water Decapods of Sicily (Crustacea, Malacostraca)
2022
The current knowledge of Sicilian inland water decapod malacostracans is scarce and an updated synopsis on species distribution is lacking. Therefore, we reviewed the checklist and recent distribution of Sicilian inland water decapods based on published and unpublished records and novel observations with the aim of providing an exhaustive repository, also to be used as a sound baseline for future surveys. Overall, five native decapod species occur in the study area, i.e., the atyid shrimp Atyaephyra desmarestii, the palaemonid shrimps Palaemon adspersus, P. antennarius, and P. elegans, and the freshwater crab Potamon fluviatile, and their current local distributions are described. In additi…
The impact of alien vascular plants in the aquatic habitats of a mediterranean island: preliminary data and observations in Sicily
2016
As is well known, invasive alien species pose a major global threat to the conservation of biodiversity, causing the extinction of native species and modifying ecosystem functions: this is true also for aquatic habitats, particularly susceptible to invasion due to usually high disturbance regimes and easy dispersal of propagules. The island of Sicily is one of the main hotspots of plant biodiversity, in the center of the Mediterranean basin; it hosts different types of freshwater habitats, both lentic (coastal wetlands, saltworks, temporary ponds, lakes, reservoirs) and lotic (springs, streams, permanent and seasonal rivers). As a first step of our analysis of the effects of the alien vascu…
Tree invasions in Italian forests
2022
Many forest tree species have been moved outside their native range to provide goods and services elsewhere, but some of them have become invasive, causing negative impacts on biodiversity and human activities. The assessment and knowledge on the degree and scale to which forest ecosystems are invaded by non-native trees is of paramount importance for tailored policies and strategies aiming at forest conservation. By analyzing main databases and literature and applying a four-level scale of invasion (not currently invaded and with low invasibility; potentially invasible; moderately invaded; massively invaded), we assessed the current and potential occurrence of twenty-five invasive non-nati…
Dikerogammarus villosus (Sowinsky, 1894) (Crustacea, Amphipoda) colonizes next alpine lake – Lac du Bourget, France.
2007
4 pages; Dikerogammarus villosus has been recorded for the first time in the alpine lake – Lac du Bourget, French Alps. Low abundance of the alien species in gathered samples suggests that the colonization is just in its initial stage. Two native gammarid species: Gammarus fossarum (Koch, 1835) and G. pulex (Linnaeus, 1758) are still present in the lake. The invader has most probably reached the lake through the Canal de Savières joining the lake to the Rhone River in which it has been already present since late 1990s.
Starzec wąskolistny Senecio inaequidens D.C. w pasie autostrady koło Brzegu na Śląsku Opolskim
2018
The paper presents the vegetation types with invasive Senecio inaequidens along the road verges in the Opole Silesia. The large population of this South-African species was located in the second half of June 2018 in the green belt (central reservation) along the A4 motorway (motorway section Brzeg – Opole).
Nowe stanowiska interesujących halofitów wzdłuż autostrady A-4 na Śląsku Opolskim
2018
The paper presents new sites of interesting synanthropic plants in the Opole Silesia. Three halophilous species,Plantago coronopus L. Spergularia marina (L.) Besser and Cochlearia officinalis L. were found on road verges of motorway A4 within the section Brzeg – Prądy. All species were observed with very large population sizes. They can thrive because of de-icing of the motorway surface with the application of sodium chloride spray.