Impacts of climate and land use change on spread of non-native plant species across Germany
Recent climate change and land use change have a major impact on non-native plant species intrusions and changes in plant species geographical distributions. These impacts are visible globally, but the magnitude and direction of the change differs locally and regionally. Studies so far have mainly analysed effects of anthropogenic factors (i.e. climate change and land-use change) on non-native plant species intrusions at continental or global scales, and these effects were investigated separately. In order to have a better understanding of anthropogenic factors on success of non-native plant species invasions at the local and regional scale, it is necessary to analyse combined and interactive effects of these anthropogenic stressors. For this, it is crucial to have multiple historical records (i.e. instrumental weather records, vegetation records and land-use records) with a good spatial and temporal coverage. This project aims to analyse non-native species intrusions across regional and local scales, taking an advantage of the good coverage of such records in Germany. To distinguish which anthropogenic factor influences more successful non-native plant invasions, Ellenberg values will be used as they were proven to be a good proxy for environmental change. Final step in this research will be to investigate if there is any relationship between the change in distribution of non-native plant species intrusions and distributions in native species that are important for provisioning and cultural ecosystem services and regional identity as this could inform conservation strategies and help to maintain key elements for the regional economy.
- Zukunftskolleg1
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