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Abstract: Early detection is important for the management of invasive alien species. In the last decade citizen science has become an important source of such data. Here, we used opportunistic records from the “LIFE ARTEMIS” citizen science project, in which people submitted records from places where they observed tree pests, to understand the distribution of a rapidly-spreading forest pest: the oak lace bug (Corythucha arcuata) in Slovenia. These citizen science records were not distributed randomly. We constructed a species distribution model for C. arcuata that accounted for the biased distribution of citizen science by using the records of other tree pests and diseases from the same project as pseudo-absences (so-called constrained pseudo-absences), and compared this to a model with pseudo-absences selected randomly from across Slovenia. We found that the constrained pseudo-absence model showed that C. arcuata was more likely to be found in east, in places with more oak trees and at lower elevations, and also closer to highways and railways, indicating introduction and dispersal by accidental human transport. The outputs from the model with random pseudo-absences were broadly similar, although estimates from this model tended to be higher and less precise, and some factors that were significant (proximity to minor roads and human settlements) were artefacts of recorder bias, showing the importance of taking the distribution of recording into account wherever possible. The finding that C. arcuata is more likely to be found near highways allows us to design advice for where future citizen science should be directed for efficient early detection.
Keywords: Oak lace bug, ecological modelling, citizen science, invasive alien species, early detection, Corythucha arcuata
Published in DiRROS: 08.09.2022; Views: 357; Downloads: 185
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Keywords: non-native tree species, Alps, invasive alien species, forest management, climate changes
Published in DiRROS: 12.08.2022; Views: 403; Downloads: 130
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Abstract: The prioritization of alien species according to the magnitude of their environmental impacts has become increasingly important for the management of invasive alien species. In this study, we applied the Environmental Impact Classification of Alien Taxa (EICAT) to classify alien taxa from three different taxonomic groups to facilitate the prioritisation of management actions for the threatened riparian forests of the Mura-Drava-Danube Biosphere Reserve, South East Europe. With local experts we collated a list of 198 alien species (115 plants, 45 insects, and 38 fungi) with populations reported in southeast European forest ecosystems and included them in the EICAT. We found impact reports for 114 species. Eleven of these species caused local extinctions of a native species, 35 led to a population decrease, 51 to a reduction in performance in at least one native species and for 17 alien species no effects on individual fitness of native species were detected. Fungi had significantly highest impact and were more likely to have information on their impacts reported. Competition and parasitism were the most important impact mechanisms of alien species. This study is, to our knowledge, the first application of EICAT to all known alien species of several taxonomic groups in a protected area. The impact rankings enabled to identify taxa that generally cause high impacts and to prioritize species for the management in protected areas according to their impact magnitudes. By following a standardized impact protocol, we identified several alien species causing high impacts that do not appear on any expert-based risk list, which are relevant for policymakers. Thus, we recommend that alien species be systematically screened to identify knowledge gaps and prioritize their management with respect to spatio-temporal trends in impact magnitudes.
Keywords: alien species, biological invasions, EICAT, invasive species management, protected areas, species prioritization
Published in DiRROS: 29.10.2021; Views: 679; Downloads: 558
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Abstract: The trees and forests of Europe are increasingly under threat from new pests and diseases that have originated in other parts of the world. Early detection of alien species when they first appear in European countries allows rapid response and offers the best chance to mitigate against their establishment and spread. Citizen science initiatives such as LIFE ARTEMIS in Slovenia, and Observatree in the UK, provide members of the public with the necessary training and educational resource to identify these tree pests and diseases and report them to the appropriate authorities, thereby increasing the level of surveillance and the capacity of the early warning system. This paper summarises some of the outcomes of these two projects and how they have both become integral parts of the official forest and tree health monitoring systems within their respective countries of Slovenia and the United Kingdom.
Keywords: invasive alien species, plant health, tree health, forest health, early warning, rapid response
Published in DiRROS: 16.11.2020; Views: 1458; Downloads: 751
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Abstract: Standardized tools are needed to identify and prioritize the most harmful non-native species (NNS). A plethora of assessment protocols have been developed to evaluate the current and potential impacts of non-native species, but consistency among them has received limited attention. To estimate the consistency across impact assessment protocols, 89 specialists in biological invasions used 11 protocols to screen 57 NNS (2614 assessments). We tested if the consistency in the impact scoring across assessors, quantified as the coefficient of variation (CV), was dependent on the characteristics of the protocol, the taxonomic group and the expertise of the assessor. Mean CV across assessors was 40%, with a maximum of 223%. CV was lower for protocols with a low number of score levels, which demanded high levels of expertise, and when the assessors had greater expertise on the assessed species. The similarity among protocols with respect to the final scores was higher when the protocols considered the same impact types. We conclude that all protocols led to considerable inconsistency among assessors. In order to improve consistency, we highlight the importance of selecting assessors with high expertise, providing clear guidelines and adequate training but also deriving final decisions collaboratively by consensus.
Keywords: environmental impact, expert judgement, invasive alien species policy, management prioritization, risk assessment, socio-economic impact
Published in DiRROS: 03.04.2019; Views: 2085; Downloads: 892
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