Alien plants
Date posted: 26 November 2009 - Permalink / Shortlink
Sharing information, and policy, on potentially invasive alien plants in Botanic Gardens
Information
Botanic Gardens hold large and diverse collections of plants, the majority of which are exotic, and many of which may be new to cultivation. Such plants may be given every encouragement to flower and adapt to their new home.
It is now recognised that there is often a lengthy lag phase between when a species becomes naturalised and represents no more than an innocuous introduction, to when it may become highly invasive. To date such transitions have usually proved to be unpredictable and unexpected.
It is vital that Botanic Gardens take steps to prevent future problem taxa from establishing through their collections
Initiatives such as DAISIE and North European and Baltic Network on Invasive Species (NOBANIS) as well as National Initiatives, such as Harmonia – Invasive species in Belgium provide detailed databases, but it can be difficult for Garden managers and curators to obtain summary lists that provide at a glance indications of problem taxa.
SCOPE
The Scope of this initiative therefore, is to :-
- Compile lists of known or potential invasive plants from a Garden, Local or Regional level to highlight cultivated taxa of concern across Europe.
- Identify emerging problem taxa in the large, and diverse, botanic collections, especially in an era of Climatic Change, so as to alert collection holders to their potential risk in terms of invasiveness.
- Foster vigilance through sharing early recognition of these newly problematic, or potentially problematic, taxa.
- Ensure responsible, pro-active policies in Botanic Gardens and other plant collections, and apply these in a coherent manner across Europe.
- Encourage gardens to engage with the public by informing them of the risks of introducing certain species into the wild, and how to recognise these species.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
ACTIONS
- Compile, and make freely available, a spreadsheet of taxa from European National lists to show those known to be established, but not invasive (x), of known invasive tendency (xx) and proven to be invasive to highly invasive (xxx). In addition taxa that have demonstrated invasive or problematic behaviour within garden situations (gg), or are known problems (ggg). Encourage Gardens, through their National Networks, to provide information in a timely and regular manner. The table has been colour coded, where data exists to show an approximate Atlanic/Continental/Mediterranean climate zones. This was on the basis of the data provided by France, which uses this breakdown. This should help to quickly identify invasive tendencies in countries with similar climatic conditions.
6 July 2009: Where changes or updates have been made to the spreadsheet, the species name is highlighted in dark blue - Compile and synthesise Policies, where these exist, to assist Gardens to share and develop best practice guidelines and policies.
Sample Policy documents:-
ISSUES
- If the project is to attract interest and prove useful, the compiled lists need to be both as complete as possible, and be kept up to date.
- An early warning page and potential alert system needs to be developed (cf. EPPO Alert Lists)
- I have added a column for EPPO Alerts to the spreadsheet (14th August 2008), even though some plants are still not recorded in the wild from our region.
For further information, please contact:
Matthew Jebb (Matthew.Jebb@opw.ie)
Chairman, PlantNetwork: the Plant Collections Network of Britain and Ireland.
Member of the European Botanic Gardens Consortium.
THOSE COUNTRIES FOR WHICH DATA HAS BEEN GATHERED – 1st December 2008:
