Manipulating alien plant species propagule pressure as a prevention strategy for protected areas
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
1-1-2013
Abstract
In this chapter we argue that preventing the introduction and spread of alien species in protected areas is still a highly relevant and critically important management strategy despite current and future global change. There has been a provocative and attention grabbing call of late in the conservation literature to accept alien species invasions as inevitable and perhaps even desirable. Such ʼnovel ecosystems’, it has been argued, may function equivalently or better under future conditions. However, we suggest that it is the very uncertainty that global change and its associated impacts bring that makes prevention more necessary than ever for protected areas. Here we focus on the variables affecting protected areas that can and cannot be manipulated to strengthen prevention efforts. Because so much has been learned about alien species prevention, we also outline different approaches for existing protected areas and those that are planned in the future, with particular emphasis on the management of invasive alien plant pathways and propagule pressure.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
Plant Invasions in Protected Areas: Patterns, Problems and Challenges
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Meyerson, Laura A., and Petr Pyšek. "Manipulating alien plant species propagule pressure as a prevention strategy for protected areas." Plant Invasions in Protected Areas: Patterns, Problems and Challenges (2013). doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-7750-7_21.