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Karl Ljung

Karl Ljung

Lecturer

Karl Ljung

Long-term trajectories of non-native vegetation on islands globally

Author

  • Anna Walentowitz
  • Bernd Lenzner
  • Franz Essl
  • Nichola Strandberg
  • Alvaro Castilla-Beltrán
  • José María Fernández-Palacios
  • Svante Björck
  • Simon Connor
  • Simon G. Haberle
  • Karl Ljung
  • Matiu Prebble
  • Janet M. Wilmshurst
  • Cynthia A. Froyd
  • Erik J. de Boer
  • Lea de Nascimento
  • Mary E. Edwards
  • Janelle Stevenson
  • Carl Beierkuhnlein
  • Manuel J. Steinbauer
  • Sandra Nogué
Show all

Summary, in English

Human-mediated changes in island vegetation are, among others, largely caused by the introduction and establishment of non-native species. However, data on past changes in non-native plant species abundance that predate historical documentation and censuses are scarce. Islands are among the few places where we can track human arrival in natural systems allowing us to reveal changes in vegetation dynamics with the arrival of non-native species. We matched fossil pollen data with botanical status information (native, non-native), and quantified the timing, trajectories and magnitude of non-native plant vegetational change on 29 islands over the past 5000 years. We recorded a proportional increase in pollen of non-native plant taxa within the last 1000 years. Individual island trajectories are context-dependent and linked to island settlement histories. Our data show that non-native plant introductions have a longer and more dynamic history than is generally recognized, with critical implications for biodiversity baselines and invasion biology.

Department/s

  • Quaternary Sciences
  • MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate

Publishing year

2023

Language

English

Pages

729-741

Publication/Series

Ecology Letters

Volume

26

Issue

5

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Topic

  • Ecology

Keywords

  • alien species
  • Anthropocene
  • biodiversity
  • biological invasions
  • fossil pollen
  • island biogeography
  • novel ecosystems
  • palaeoecology

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1461-023X