Invasive Plants: Their Impacts and Control in Changing Environments
Bibliographic record
Abstract
While it is frequently stated that invasive species are second only to habitat destruction as a cause of species extinctions, this generalization does not apply to plants. In this paper, we briefly discuss three issues concerning the impacts of exotic plants: the impact of an introduced plant species on a rare native plant species, the potential long-term impacts of exotics on plant communities, and the possible interactions between biological control success and climate change. Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), is a European plant species that is now widespread in wetland areas of northern North America. We predicted that the invasion of purple loosestrife might reduce the density of a rare plant species, Henderson's checker-mallow (Sidalcea hendersonii), in a tidal marsh habitat in British Columbia; however, this was not the case. Thus, just because a new species becomes common does not mean it will threaten rare native species. Predicting species interactions is difficult. Introduced plants, however, can have long-term impacts on plant communities. For example, legumes can change soil nitrogen, and through soil enrichment, can create long-term changes to invaded communities. Plants that efficiently use soil moisture can also prevent the reestablishment of native species and can reduce biodiversity. In these situations, the invasive plants act as ecological engineers. We discuss two examples of this: the invasion of threatened Garry oak (Quercus garryana) meadows by Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) and the persistence of crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum ssp. pectinatum) in dry rangelands. In these situations, the invasive plants could possibly act as ecological engineers. Models of climate change predict increased drought in some regions of Canada. Between 2001 and 2003, rainfall in the Okanagan Valley was well below normal levels, although similar drought conditions have occurred in the recent past. Over this same time period, an invasive rangeland weed, diffuse knapweed (Centaurea diffusa), declined dramatically in density following high levels of attack by a recently introduced biological control agent, a weevil, Larinus minutus. Rainfall and knapweed density are related, and the feeding damage by this weevil likely increased the drought stress of knapweed plants and may have contributed to their demise.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".