A global synthesis of naturalised and invasive plants in aquatic habitats

Global databases have contributed to our understanding of alien, naturalised and invasive plant species distributions. Still, the role of species invasions in habitats, specifically in aquatic habitats, remains underexplored at the global scale. Accordingly, a comprehensive global synthesis of the status of plant invasions in aquatic habitats has been missing. Here, we focus on macroecological patterns of naturalised non-invasive and invasive plants in aquatic habitats using the recently built SynHab database. Amongst all the plant records compiled in SynHab, 592 are assigned to aquatic habitats, of which 183 are unique plant taxa (further termed ‘species’) belonging to 49 families. Of the total number of records, 462 refer to taxa with naturalised non-invasive occurrences and 130 to invasive occurrences. The species pool analysed here refers to 78 regions distributed across all botanical continents as defined by the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions. The number of naturalised non-invasive aquatic species is similar across different continents and biomes, but Tropical Asia had more and the Mediterranean zonobiome had fewer invasive species than expected. Tropical Asia, Temperate Asia and Africa have the highest proportions of naturalised species that have become invasive, while across continents, invasive proportions were highest for tropical and subtropical zonobiomes. New Zealand, Italy and California contained disproportionately more naturalised species than expected, given the area covered by aquatic habitat in those regions, whereas South Sudan, Papua New Guinea and Kyrgyzstan had disproportionately fewer species. In pairwise dissimilarity comparisons, all continents had distinct species compositions (from 0.73 to 0.92 of the Jaccard dissimilarity index) and so did zonobiomes (0.69 to 1.00). The high proportion of invasive species in Tropical Asia in comparison with terrestrial invasions in this region, indicates a greater susceptibility of warmer regions to aquatic plant invasions. This may be exacerbated by further naturalisations in the future, as data from temperate regions suggest a larger pool of available species.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
NeoBiota
Published
2025-10-07
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.151156
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Biological Control of Invasive Species
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.34

Funders

Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

A global synthesis of naturalised and invasive plants in aquatic habitats

Marten Winter, AnaLu MacVean, Michael Ansong, Franz Essl et al.
2 citations
NeoBiota
Biological Control of Invasive Species
3.34
article

A global synthesis of naturalised and invasive plants in aquatic habitats

Marten Winter, AnaLu MacVean, Michael Ansong, Franz Essl, Montserrat Vilà, Daniel W. Krix, Daniel L. Nickrent, Stepan Senator, Guillaume Fried, Pablo Galán, Pavel Pipek, Pierre Meerts, Eun Su Kang, Sharif A. Mukul, Alexander N. Sennikov, Pieter B. Pelser, Dorjee, Philip Eric Hulme, Dagoberto Rodríguez, Farzaneh Bordbar, Megan L. Murray, Lilian Ferrufino, Julissa Rojas‐Sandoval, Omar R. López, J Bruna, Petr Pyšek, Christian Gilli, Michael Glaser, José Ramón Grande Allende, Rachid Meddour, Zigmantas Gudžinskas, Rodolfo J. Flores, Martin Hejda, Elena Yu. Zykova, Alfred Maroyi, Ingolf Kühn, Alessandra Kortz, Joan Pino, Mark van Kleunen, Trobjon Makhkamov, Roser Rotchés‐Ribalta, Jan Pergl, Sima Sohrabi, Estrela Figueiredo, Patrick Weigelt, Hélia Marchante, Annette Patzelt, Ali Omer, Israel Borokini, Nicol Fuentes, Μαργαρίτα Αριανούτσου, Marc Riera, Wayne Dawson, Kateřina Štajerová, Barbara Tokarska‐Guzik, Bharat Babu Shrestha, Zarah Pattison, Eduardo Chacón‐Madrigal, Elizabete Marchante, Laura Celesti‐Grapow, Gideon F. Smith, Prince Emmanuel Norman, Paulina Anastasiu, Suneeta Bhatta, Viktoria Wagner, Ayşe Yazlık, Rachael Holmes, Ana Novoa, Holger Kreft, José Yader Sageth Ruiz Cruz, Jan Čuda, Brad R. Murray, Julie F. Barcelona, Inderjit
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Global databases have contributed to our understanding of alien, naturalised and invasive plant species distributions. Still, the role of species invasions in habitats, specifically in aquatic habitats, remains underexplored at the global scale. Accordingly, a comprehensive global synthesis of the status of plant invasions in aquatic habitats has been missing. Here, we focus on macroecological patterns of naturalised non-invasive and invasive plants in aquatic habitats using the recently built SynHab database. Amongst all the plant records compiled in SynHab, 592 are assigned to aquatic habitats, of which 183 are unique plant taxa (further termed ‘species’) belonging to 49 families. Of the total number of records, 462 refer to taxa with naturalised non-invasive occurrences and 130 to invasive occurrences. The species pool analysed here refers to 78 regions distributed across all botanical continents as defined by the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions. The number of naturalised non-invasive aquatic species is similar across different continents and biomes, but Tropical Asia had more and the Mediterranean zonobiome had fewer invasive species than expected. Tropical Asia, Temperate Asia and Africa have the highest proportions of naturalised species that have become invasive, while across continents, invasive proportions were highest for tropical and subtropical zonobiomes. New Zealand, Italy and California contained disproportionately more naturalised species than expected, given the area covered by aquatic habitat in those regions, whereas South Sudan, Papua New Guinea and Kyrgyzstan had disproportionately fewer species. In pairwise dissimilarity comparisons, all continents had distinct species compositions (from 0.73 to 0.92 of the Jaccard dissimilarity index) and so did zonobiomes (0.69 to 1.00). The high proportion of invasive species in Tropical Asia in comparison with terrestrial invasions in this region, indicates a greater susceptibility of warmer regions to aquatic plant invasions. This may be exacerbated by further naturalisations in the future, as data from temperate regions suggest a larger pool of available species.

NeoBiotaVol. 102
Universidad de Panamá (PA), University of Delhi (IN), University of Technology Sydney (AU), University of Fort Hare (ZA), Universitat de Vic - Universitat Central de Catalunya (ES), University of Stirling (GB), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES), Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (PA), Meise Botanic Garden (BE), University of Vienna (AT), Université Libre de Bruxelles (BE), Tashkent State Agrarian University (UZ), NSW Ambulance (AU), University of Helsinki (FI), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE), University of Connecticut (US), University of Bucharest (RO), Radboud University Nijmegen (NL), University of Liverpool (GB), University of Khartoum (SD), University of Leicester (GB), University of Alberta (CA), Tribhuvan University (NP), National Autonomous University of Honduras (HN), University of Concepción (CL), Universidad de Granada (ES), University of the Sunshine Coast (AU), Lincoln University (NZ), University of Canterbury (NZ), University of Konstanz (DE), Florida International University (US), Universidad Nacional (CR), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR), Cornell University (US), Charles University (CZ), Montana State University (US), Inter-American Institute (UY), Korea Forest Service (KR), German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (GH), Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences (DE), Universidad de Costa Rica (CR), York College of Pennsylvania (US), Estación Biológica de Doñana (ES), Estacion Experimental de Zonas Aridas (ES), Asociación Jardín Botánico La Laguna (SV), Fundación Salvadoreña para el Desarrollo Económico y Social (SV), Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications (ES), Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany (CZ), Nature Research Centre (LT), Universidad Albert Einstein (SV), Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations (FR), Research Center for Natural Resources, Environment and Society (PT), Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi-Ouzou (DZ), Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (BT), Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SL), Korea National Arboretum, National University of Uzbekistan (UZ), University of El Salvador (SV), Düzce Üniversitesi (TR), United International University (BD), University of Göttingen (DE), University of Coimbra (PT), Universidad de Sevilla (ES), Taizhou University (CN), Sapienza University of Rome (IT), University of Silesia in Katowice (PL), Nelson Mandela University (ZA)
Grantová Agentura České Republiky, Austrian Science Fund, Akademie Věd České Republiky, Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Openalex Percentile: Top 8%
Biological Control of Invasive Species
3.34
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.