Field studies of the ecological impacts of invasive plants in Europe

Abstract

The impacts of invasive species can vary widely across invaded sites and depend on the ecological variable of study. In this paper, we describe the first harmonised database that compiles scientific evidence of the ecological impacts of invasive plant species at continental scale. We summarise results from 266 publications reporting 4259 field studies on 104 invasive species in 29 European countries. For each study, we recorded whether the effects were statistically significant and noted their direction (i.e. decrease or increase in the response variable when compared to uninvaded sites). We classified studies, based on the impacts on the levels of ecological organisation (species, communities and ecosystems), taxa and trophic level. More than half of the studies were conducted in temperate and boreal forests and woodlands and temperate grasslands. Notably, one third of the studies focused on just five invasive species. Most studies were on native species followed by studies on communities. Impacts on plants were more frequently studied than impacts on other taxa and trophic groups. Overall, 43% of the studies reported significant impacts, with more significant decreases (26%) than increases (17%) in the response variables. Significant impacts were more frequent on species and communities than on ecosystems; and on plants than on animals or microbes. This database is of interest for academic, management and policy-related purposes.