A comparison of native tree communities between alien weed-infested forests and adjacent weeded forests in Mauritius
| MSI07P4228 | |
| Florens, F. B. V. Baider, C. Ramlugun, G. D. Ramsing, A. I. | |
| A comparison of native tree communities between alien weed-infested forests and adjacent weeded forests in Mauritius | |
| Tropical Biology: Meeting the needs of changing tropical ecosystems: Program and Abstracts. Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, 18-21 July 2006 Kunming, Yunnan, China. | |
| Conference paper | |
| 2006 | |
| p. 93 | |
| Kunming: Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden and Chinese Academy of Sciences. | |
| Abstract only | |
| En | |
| En | |
| The first ecological surveys of Mauritian forests in the 1930's reported the presence of invasive plants in all areas of native forests. The situation has progressively worsened since and nowadays invasive alien species collectively pose the highest threat to the endangered biota of Mauritius. This triggered the creation over the last decades of a network of conservation management areas (CMAs) where alien weeds are removed and large introduced mammals fenced out. The presence of CMAs provides an opportunity to study the impact of invasive alien species in-situ through comparative studies with non-managed areas. Two of the best preserved native upland forest sites of the island were sampled for woody plants using 60 plots of 100m2, of which 20 were placed in non-weeded and 40 in weeded areas. Non-weeded forests at both sites were found to be highly invaded in their understorey by alien plants, particularly Psidium cattleianum, and to a lesser extent Ligustrum robustrum out of the seven alien woody species found. Several native trees showed marked reduction in individuals in the smaller size-class categories indicating clear hindrance to their regeneration, while a few other species seemed to be little affected. Forests in the weeded areas showed both a higher species richness and excellent regeneration of several native species. Populations of pioneer trees, shrubs and lianas, which are nowadays virtually absent from the non-weeded forests, recover particularly well in managed areas. | |
| invasive alien species tropical forest species richness restoration | |
| Mauritius | |
| Flora | |
| 2007-01-09 | |
| En | |
| HERB | |
| CAT | |
| Herb |