Invasive Plants

Invasive plants: botanical gardens, orchards, crops and aquatic habitats

as hotspots of spreading the alien species in the Mediterranean.

Organisers: Stephen L. Jury and Olja Vasić

APPROACH

Terrestrial and aquatic plants of foreign origin that are invasive or potentially invasive in the Mediterranean, with a focus on species that have spread from botanical gardens, orchards and crops, as well as from initial hotspots in fresh waters and seas.

TOPICS:

• the significance of the hotspot, and the way the plants came to the Mediterranean,
• the place, size and dynamics of the areal in the Mediterranean (directions, speed and conditions of expansion, distribution in area, occupancy of space, prognosis of potential spreading),
• actual and potential impact on autochthonous flora and vegetation, as well as the environment, and the types and degree of danger for future natural development of flora and vegetation in terms of diversity, distribution and maintenance of natural competition,
• actual and potential impact on the activities of the man (e.g. production of food, transport, health),
• the most endangered or the most sensitive parts of the Mediterranean for the potential spreading of invasive species and why (e.g. conditions, natural and anthropogenous, which allow the penetration and spread of invasive species),
• species that potentially could become invasive in the Mediterranean, and why (e.g. presence in geographically close, or environmentally similar to Mediterranean, their biological, ecological and chorological characteristics, favorable conditions in the Mediterranean, natural or influenced by man),
• strategy and measures (already known as effective in some other areas, and proposals of new ones) to prevent the migration of new species to the Mediterranean, or intended to limit the spread or to eradicate the already introduced species,
• the managing of the risks endangering the autochthonous flora and vegetation, as well as the natural and anthropogenous environment.

PROGRAMME

1) Rob Tanner: Mitigating the impacts of invasive alien plants through international cooperation.

2) Anna Maria Mannino: Alien macrophytes in the Mediterranean sea: an overview.

3) Alessio Papini & Ugo Santosuosso: Modelling the center of origin and the spreading pattern of Caulerpa invasion in the Mediterranean.

4) Paula Farelo, Carlos Gómez-Bellver, Josep Maria Montserrat, Samuel Pyke, Jordi López-Pujol, Neus Nualart & Neus Ibáñez: Montjuïc Mountain (Barcelona): A hotspot for plant invasions in a Mediterranean city.

5) Emanuele Del Guacchio: The role of the botanical gardens of Campania (Italy) in introducing invasive plants.

6) Stephen L. Jury: Nicotiana glauca: a neglected invasive?

7) Sonia Herrando-Moraira, Daniel Vitales, Neus Nualart, Carlos Gómez-Bellver, Neus Ibáñez, Sergi Massó, Pilar Cachón-Ferrero, Pedro A. González-Gutiérrez, Ileana Herrera, Daniel Shaw, Adriano Stinca, Zhiqiang Wang & Jordi López-Pujol: From greenhouse to the wildlife: global invasion patterns of Kalanchoe x houghtonii (Crassulaceae).

Information about authors

1. Rob Tanner, European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO/OEPP), Paris, France, e-mail: rt@eppo.int

2. Anna Maria Mannino, University of Palermo, Department STEBICEF, Section of Botany and Plant Ecology, Palermo, Italy, e-mail: annamaria.mannino@unipa.it

3. Alessio Papini, Universuty of Florence, Department of Biology, Florence, Italy, e-mail: alpapini@unifi.it. Ugo Santosuosso, Universuty of Florence, Department of Experimental and clinic medecin, Florence, Italy.

4 & 7. Paula Farelo, Carlos Gómez-Bellver, University of Barcelona, Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Barcelona, Spain. Jordi López-Pujol, Neus Nualart, Neus Ibáñez, Sonia Herrando-Moraira, Daniel Vitales, Sergi Massó, Pilar Cachón-Ferrero, Botanic Institute of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, e-mail: nibanez@ibb.csic.es; jlopez@ibb.csic.es; jlopezpu@gmail.com Josep Maria Montserrat, Samuel Pyke, Barcelona Botanic Garden, Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. Pedro A. González-Gutiérrez, Centro de Investigaciones y Servicios Ambientales de Holguín, Cuba. Ileana Herrera, Universidad Espíritu Santo, Escuela de Ciencias Ambientales, Samborondón, Ecuador. Daniel Shaw, Bangor University, School of Natural Sciences, Bangor, United Kingdom. Adriano Stinca, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, Caserta, Italy. Zhiqiang Wang, Chengdu University, Institute for Advanced Study, Chengdu, China.

5. Emanuele Del Guacchio, University of Naples „Federico II“, Botanical Garden, Naples, Italy, e-mail: edelgua@email.it.

6. Stephen L. Jury, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom, e-mail: stephenljury21@btinternet.com.