Decline of native tree diversity under alien species invasion in the native forests of Mauritius
| MSI07P4260 | |
| Baider, C Florens, V F B Strasberg, D | |
| Decline of native tree diversity under alien species invasion in the native forests of Mauritius | |
| Abstract book. One World, One Conservation, One Partnership: 21st Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 1-5 July 2007 (CD-ROM) | |
| book chapter | |
| 2007 | |
| Arlington: Society for Conservation Biology | |
| Abstract only | |
| en | |
| en | |
| The flora of Mauritius is one of the most threatened in the world, yet little is known about how this biodiversity is maintaining itself in the face of alien species invasion. We surveyed trees =10 cm in dbh in an alien weed invaded wet forest first surveyed in 1937 to document the changes, and to compare with an adjacent area which was first weeded of alien plants in the 1930's. We also determined recruitment, groth and mortality of woody native plants =1.3 m tall between 2002 and 2006 in 10 plots of 100 m2. Our findings indicated a 50 percent decline of native trees =10 cm dbh since 1937. This decline was much higher than in the forest area weeded of alien plants. Native tree recruitment over the period 2002 to 2006 was low (0.9 percent) while tree mortality during the same period reached 5.2 percent. Susceptibility of native species to the invaders varied significantly. We concluded that the remnants of wet tropical forest of Mauritius are degrading fast and that invasion by alien plants (mainly Psidium cattleianum, Myrtaceae) is the major driver of this biodiversity loss. An expansion of the areas being restored through removal of invasive alien weeds from the current mere 60 ha is both crucial and very urgent. | |
| biodiversity flora forests alien invasive species | |
| Mauritius | |
| flora | |
| 2007-07-25 | |
| en | |
| HERB | |
| CAT | |
| HERB |