Abstract
A systematic analysis of vegetation successions following disturbance can outline general invasion patterns and contribute to the management of disturbed and natural ecosystems. Here the participation of alien plant species, with special regard to neophytes, was compared in 20 types of successional series in the Czech Republic, central Europe, to detect possible trends and factors supporting their occurrence. Based on 3473 samples of spontaneously established vegetation, we used linear mixed models and multivariate analyses to assess how alien species were influenced by successional age, average annual temperature and precipitation, altitude, geological substrate, and surrounding land-cover. Out of 1035 plant taxa recorded, 839 were natives, 129 archaeophytes and 67 neophytes. The primary or secondary status of series may influence the participation of neophytes but was not determinative. The most invaded successional series were those in deforested landscapes at lower altitudes. Altitude plus climate, substrate and degree of urbanisation shaped the general vegetation pattern and occurrence of aliens. Neophytes were additionally benefited by density of roads and railways and extent of arable land in the surrounding landscape, confirming that these land uses are relevant invasion pathways and should be targeted in prevention strategies. Alien participation is low and mostly declines in later stages, with few neophytes becoming locally dominant over time. This supports spontaneous succession as a suitable restoration option and places the focus on an early detection of potentially problematic species. These findings may contribute to guiding decisions in landscape restoration and the management of disturbed sites under central European conditions.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The database is available upon request on the official website: http://www.restoration-ecology.eu/dass/.
Code availability (software application or custom code)
The code is elaborated with the free R software and is available upon request.
References
Alexander JM, Lembrechts JJ, Cavieres LA et al (2016) Plant invasions into mountains and alpine ecosystems: current status and future challenges. Alpine Bot 126:89–103.
Becker T, Dietz H, Billeter R et al (2005) Altitudinal distribution of alien plant species in the Swiss Alps. Perspect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 7:173–183.
Brooks M, Kristensen K, van Benthem K et al (2017) glmmTMB balances speed and flexibility among packages for zero-inflated generalized linear mixed modeling. R J 9:378–400
CABI (2004) Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronquist. data sheet. In: Crop protection compendium, CAB International, Wallingford, https://www.cabcompendium.org/cpc Accessed from 28 Apr 2021
Cháb J, Stráník Z, Eliáš M (2007) Geologická mapa České republiky 1: 500 000. Česká geologická služba, Praha
Chytrý M, Maskell LC, Pino J et al (2008) Habitat invasions by alien plants: a quantitative comparison among Mediterranean, subcontinental and oceanic regions of Europe. J Appl Ecol 45:448–458.
Chytrý M, Pyšek P, Tichý L et al (2005) Invasions by alien plants in the Czech Republic: a quantitative assessment across habitats. Preslia 77:339–354
Cramer VA, Hobbs RJ (eds) (2007) Old field dynamics and restoration of abandoned farmland. Island Press, Washington, DC
Davis MA, Grime JP, Thompson K (2018) Fluctuating resources in plant communities: a general theory of invasibility. J Ecol 88:528–534.
Davis MA, Thompson K, Grime JP (2001) Charles S. Elton and the dissociation of invasion ecology from the rest of ecology. Divers Distrib 7:97–102.
di Castri F (1989) History of biological invasions with special emphasis on the Old World. In: Drake JA, Mooney HA, di Castri F et al (eds) Biological invasions: a global perspective. Wiley and Sons, Chichester, pp 1–30
Divíšek J, Chytrý M (2018) High-resolution and large-extent mapping of plant species richness using vegetation-plot databases. Ecol Indic 89:840–851.
Dostál P, Dawson W, van Kleunen M, Keser LH, Fischer M (2013) Central European plant species from more productive habitats are more invasive at a global scale. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 22: 64–72. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-8238.2011.00754.x
ESRI (2015) ArcGIS Desktop. Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands
Glenn-Lewin DC, Peet RK, Veblen TT (1992) Plant succession. Theory and prediction. Chapman & Hall, London
Hejda M, Pyšek P, Jarošík V (2009) Impact of invasive plants on the species richness, diversity and composition of invaded communities. J Ecol 97:393–403.
Hobbs RJ, Huenneke LF (1992) Disturbance, diversity, and invasion: implications for conservation. Conserv Biol 6:324–337.
Hothorn T, Bretz F, Westfall P (2008) Simultaneous inference in general parametric models. Biom J 50:346–363.
Hulme PE (2009) Trade, transport and trouble: managing invasive species pathways in an era of globalization. J Appl Ecol 46:10–18.
Kalusová V, Chytrý M, Peet RK, Wentworth TR (2015) Intercontinental comparison of habitat levels of invasion between temperate North America and Europe. Ecology 96:3363–3373.
Kaplan Z, Danihelka J, Chrtek jun. J, et al (eds) (2019) Klíč ke květeně České republiky [Key to the flora of the Czech Republic]. Academia, Praha
Kent M, Coker P (1992) Vegetation description and analysis. Belhaven Press, London
Kowarik I (1995) On the role of alien species in urban flora and vegetation. In: Pyšek P, Prach K, Rejmánek M, Wade M (eds) Plant invasions: General aspects and special problems. SPB Academic Publishers, Amsterdam, pp 83–103
Lenth RV (2020) emmeans: estimated marginal means, aka least-squares means. R package version 1.5.3. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=emmeans
Lepart J, Debussche M (1991) Invasion processes as related to succession and disturbance. In: Groves RH, di Castri F (eds) Biogeography of Mediterranean invasions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 159–177
Lonsdale WM (1999) Global patterns of plant invasion and the concept of invasibility. Ecology 80:1522–1536
Meiners SJ, Pickett STA, Cadenasso ML (2002) Exotic plant invasions over 40 years of old field successions: community patterns and associations. Ecography 25:215–223
Prach K (2003). Spontaneous succession in Central-European man-made habitats: What information can be used in restoration practice? Appl Veg Sci 6: 125–129. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1654-109X.2003.tb00572.x
Prach K (2014) Vegetation development in central European coal mining sites. In: Frouz J (ed) Soil biota and ecosystem development in post mining sites. CRC Press, Praha, pp 38–52
Prach K, Pyšek P, Bastl M (2001) Spontaneous vegetation succession in human-disturbed habitats: a pattern across seres. Appl Veg Sci 4:83–88
Prach K, Pyšek P, Jarošik V (2007) Climate and pH as determinants of vegetation succession in Central European man-made habitats. J Veg Sci 18:701–710.
Prach K, Řehounková K, Lencová K et al (2014) Vegetation succession in restoration of disturbed sites in Central Europe: the direction of succession and species richness across 19 seres. Appl Veg Sci 17:193–200.
Prach K, Tichý L, Lencová K et al (2016) Does succession run towards potential natural vegetation ? An analysis across seres. J Veg Sci 27:515–523.
Prach K, Walker LR (2020). Comparative plant succession among terrestrial biomes of the World. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Pyšek P (1998) Alien and native species in Central European urban floras: a quantitative comparison. J Biogeogr 25:155–163.
Pyšek P, Chytrý M, Pergl J (2012) Plant invasions in the Czech Republic: current state, introduction dynamics, invasive species and invaded habitats. Preslia 84: 575–629
Pyšek P, Danihelka J, Sádlo J et al (2012b) Catalogue of alien plants of the Czech Republic (2nd edition): checklist update, taxonomic diversity and invasion patterns. Preslia 84:155–255
Pyšek P, Davis MA, Daehler CC, Thompson K (2004) Plant invasions and vegetation succession: closing the gap. Bull Ecol Soc Am 85:105–109.
Pyšek P, Jarošík V (2005) Residence time determines the distribution of alien plants. In: Inderjit S (ed) Invasive plants: ecological and agricultural aspects. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, pp 77–96
Pyšek P, Jarošik V, Pergl J, Wild J (2011) Colonization of high altitudes by alien plants over the last two centuries. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108:439–440.
Pyšek P, Prach K, Šmilauer P (1995) Invasion success related to plant traits: an analysis of Czech alien flora. In: Pyšek P, Prach K, Rejmánek WM (eds) Plant invasions - General aspects and special problems. SPB Academic Publ., Amsterdam, pp 39–60
R Core Team (2018). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL https://www.R-project.org/.
Řehounková K, Prach K (2008) Spontaneous vegetation succession in gravel-sand pits: a potential for restoration. Restor Ecol 16:305–312
Rejmánek M (1989) Invasibility of plant communities. In: Drake JA, Mooney HA, di Castri F et al (eds) Biological invasions: a global perspective. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, pp 369–388
Rejmánek M, Richardson DM (2005) Plant invasions and invasibility of plant communities. In: van der Maarel E (ed) Vegetation ecology. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 387–424
Richardson DM, Pyšek P, Rejmanek M et al (2000) Naturalization and invasion of alien plants: concepts and definitions. Divers Distrib 6:93–107.
Shea K, Chesson P (2002) Community ecology theory as a framework for biological invasions. Trends Ecol Evol 17:170–176.
Simonová D, Lososová Z (2008) Which factors determine plant invasions in man-made habitats in the Czech Republic? Perspect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 10:89–100.
Šmilauer P, Lepš J (2014) Multivariate analysis of ecological data using Canoco 5. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Stohlgren TJ, Barnett D, Flather C (2005) Plant species invasions along the latitudinal gradient in the United States. Ecology 86: 2298–2309
ter Braak C, Šmilauer P (2012) Canoco reference manual and user’s guide: software for ordination, version 5.0
Tolasz R, Míková T, Valeriánová T, Voženílek V (eds) (2007) Climate atlas of Czechia. Czech Hydrometeorological Institute and Palacký University, Olomouc
van der Maarel E (1979) Transformation of cover-abundance values in phytosociology and its effects on community similarity. Vegetatio 39:97–114.
Vítovcová K, Tichý L, Řehounková K, Prach K (2021) Which landscape and abiotic site factors influence vegetation succession across seres at a country scale? J Veg Sci 32(1): e12950
Walker LR, del Moral R (2003) Primary succession and ecosystem rehabilitation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Wickham H (2016) ggplot2: elegant graphics for data analysis. Springer-Verlag, New York
Acknowledgements
We thank all our colleagues that agreed to have their data included in our database, namely Martin Adámek, Alena Bartošová, Marek Bastl, Tereza Dudíková, Helena Dvořáková, Martina Entová, Darina Hodačová, Alena Jírová, Alexandra Klaudisová, Jiří Koptík, Petr Koštel, Tomáš Koutecký, Radek Litvín, Ondřej Mudrák, Jan Novák, Petr Petřík, Petr Pyšek, Jiří Sádlo, Lenka Šebelíková, Petr Šmilauer, Zdeněk Špringar, Vojtěch Študent, Lubomír Tichý, Romana Trnková, Zdeněk Vaněček and all those who contributed to the acquisition of primary data. We thank to the associate editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments which improved the manuscript. We also thank Jan W. Jongepier for language revision.
Funding
The study was supported by funding from JU International Mobility Support (Grant no. CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/16_027/0008364), the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (Grant no. 20-06065 S) and the Programme of Strategy AV21 of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
KP, KŘ and MB conceived the study. All authors but MB collected the data. KV and MB assembled data. MB performed the analyses and wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed substantially to the revisions and gave final approval for publication.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest. Authors and data contributors give their consent to participate and publication.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic Supplementary Material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ballesteros, M., Vítovcová, K., Řehounková, K. et al. Alien species in vegetation succession: participation, temporal trends and determining factors in various central European series. Biol Invasions 23, 3435–3445 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-021-02587-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-021-02587-4