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ŠUMARSKI LIST 5-6/2022 str. 49     <-- 49 -->        PDF

Presence of alien Prunus serotina and Impatiens parviflora in lowland forest fragments in NE Slovenia
Prisutnost stranih vrsta Prunus serotina i Impatiens parviflora u fragmentima nizinskih šuma u SI Sloveniji
Mirjana Šipek, Eva Horvat, Ivana Vitasović Kosić, Nina Šajna
Summary
Temperate alluvial, riparian and lowland forests are the European forests with the greatest presence of invasive alien plants. Consequently, identifying the environmental conditions for and other drivers behind the establishment of invasive species in natural forest communities is crucial for understanding the invasibility of these habitats. We focused on fragments (patches) of Illyrian oak-hornbeam forest in NE Slovenia, which are the least studied in this regard.
Because alien phanerophytes and therophytes are significantly over-represented compared to native plants in lowland forests, we selected two representative invasives: the phanerophyte Prunus serotina and the therophyte Impatiens parviflora. By using logistic regression models on vegetation surveys, environmental data based on Ellenberg´s indicator values, and patch metrics, we identified patch characteristics explaining the presence of each species. Moreover, we included human impact in the models.
We reveal significant characteristics differentiating P. serotina from I. parviflora. We also show that the perimeter-area ratio and soil nutrients of the forest patches correlate significantly with the presence of P. serotina, while human disturbance correlates significantly with the presence of I. parviflora. Our results and a similar approach for other invasive plant species can be applied to assess habitat invasibility on potential and species’ current geographic distribution, as well as to develop management plans.
Key words: biological invasions, forest fragmentation, landscape metrics, habitat characteristics, human presence, neophytes
INTRODUCTION
UVOD
Stable natural habitats allowing establishment of long-lived forest communities are generally expected to be relatively resistant to alien plant invasion (Von Holle et al., 2003). However, forest types occurring on temperate river floodplains are the habitats with the highest frequency of alien species present (Essl et al., 2011; Wagner et al., 2017). This is also the case for Slovenian forests, where the highest presence of invasive alien plants was recorded for floodplain forests (Zelnik, 2012). On the Drava river and Mura river plains, three dominant forest types are present: alluvial forests with Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn. and Fraxinus