Alien plants introduced by different pathways differ in invasion success: unintentional introductions as a threat to natural areas

0365135 - BÚ 2012 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Pyšek, Petr - Jarošík, Vojtěch - Pergl, Jan
Alien plants introduced by different pathways differ in invasion success: unintentional introductions as a threat to natural areas.
PLoS ONE. Roč. 6, č. 9 (2011), e24890. ISSN 1932-6203. E-ISSN 1932-6203
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT LC06073; GA ČR(CZ) GAP504/11/1028
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60050516
Keywords : plant invasions * pathways * naturalization and invasion
Subject RIV: EF - Botanics
Impact factor: 4.092, year: 2011

How particular pathways of introduction of alien plants differ in terms of post-invasion success of species they deliver has never been rigorously tested. Pathways introducing alien species in the Czech Republic deliberately as commodities (direct release into the wild; escape from cultivation) result in easier naturalization and invasion than pathways of unintentional introduction (contaminant of a commodity; stowaway arriving without association with it). The proportion of naturalized and invasive species among all introductions delivered by a particular pathway decreases with a decreasing level of direct assistance from humans associated with that pathway, from release and escape to contaminant and stowaway. However, those species that are introduced via unintentional pathways and become invasive are as widely distributed as deliberately introduced species, and those introduced as contaminants invade an even wider range of seminatural habitats.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0200450