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Tree invasions: patterns, processes, challenges and opportunities

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Abstract

Tree invasions have escalated in importance in the last few decades (more species, greater area invaded, more types of impacts, increasing complexity of management challenges), and are increasingly studied from many perspectives. This research spans many disciplines, including ecology, population biology, genetics, remote sensing, ecological modelling, risk analysis, resource economics and, increasingly, the humanities. There has been substantial progress in understanding patterns and processes, but many unanswered questions remain. Only a few invasive trees have been well studied, many of them in only a small part of their invasive range. Invasive trees often have substantial impacts, especially when they invade formerly treeless vegetation. Trees have several features that make them useful for understanding key aspects of biological invasions (the determinants of invasiveness and invasibility), but also the full spectrum of human perceptions and values that frames biological invasions as an environmental problem. This editorial provides background and summarizes the main outputs from a workshop held in Argentina in September 2012 that set out to summarize current knowledge on key topics and to determine the most important challenges facing researchers and managers. The sixteen papers in the special issue of Biological Invasions span disciplines, geographic regions and taxa and provide novel insights on pathways and historical perspectives, detection and monitoring, determinants of invasiveness, function and impact, and the many challenges that face managers.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all participants in the tree invasions workshop on Isla Victoria Island for their contributions. DMR and CH acknowledge support from the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology and the National Research Foundation, South Africa (Grant 85417 to DMR; Grants 76912 and 81825 to CH). CH acknowledges the support from the Elsevier Young Scientist Award. The Oppenheimer Memorial Trust supported the attendance of several participants. AP is funded by Fondecyt 1100792, ICM P05-002 and Conicyt PFB-23.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa

    David M. Richardson & Cang Hui

  2. Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA, CONICET, University Nacional del Comahue, Quintral 1250, 8400, Bariloche, Argentina

    Martin A. Nuñez

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB), Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile

    Aníbal Pauchard

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  1. David M. Richardson
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  2. Cang Hui
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  3. Martin A. Nuñez
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  4. Aníbal Pauchard
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Correspondence to David M. Richardson.

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Richardson, D.M., Hui, C., Nuñez, M.A. et al. Tree invasions: patterns, processes, challenges and opportunities. Biol Invasions 16, 473–481 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-013-0606-9

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