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Alien plants in southern South America. A framework for evaluation and management of mutual risk of invasion between Chile and Argentina

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Abstract

Most of the Chilean traffic exchange takes place along the border with Argentina. The road network between both countries facilitates the transport of alien plant species, raising the chance of new introductions of plant species and increasing the propagule pressure of already introduced plants. We used a modified version of the Australian Weed Risk Assessment method (AWRA) to analyze if alien plant species already present either exclusively in Chile or Argentina can be a potential source of risk for new alien species introduction and, specifically, which of the two countries poses a higher risk for its counterpart. We recorded 875 alien species of which 288 are exclusive to Chile, 283 are exclusive to Argentina, and 304 are shared by both countries. Considering the risk of new alien plants introductions, Chile presents a higher threat to Argentina than vice versa. Specifically, twenty-two alien species are exclusive to Chile, and are present on roadsides connecting both countries, hence they are regarded as a top risk for Argentina; a comparable top risk of alien species is absent from Argentinean roadsides. Both countries have a similar number of alien species being exclusive to one country, but are not present along roadsides (Chile 162; Argentina 186), which could represent a potential risk to the other country. The methodological approach proposed here may be a useful tool not only for screening potential new alien plant introductions, but also for the prioritization of eradication or control measures of those species already introduced.

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Acknowledgments

We thank to M. Winter for providing us partial electronic data of flora Argentina, F. Lira for roadside data, S. Fuentes for helping in completing the WRA-ChAr forms, and C. Heibl, S. Pfanzelt, and A. Saldaña for their comments on the analysis and the manuscript. We also thank D. Simberloff and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on a previous version of the manuscript. This research was funded by the EC within the FP 6 Integrated Project ALARM (Assessing LArge scale environmental Risks for biodiversity with tested Methods; GOCE-CT-2003-506675; www.alarmproject.net; Settele et al. 2005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Botánica, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile

    Nicol Fuentes & Eduardo Ugarte

  2. Department Community Ecology (BZF), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Theodor Lieser Str. 4, 06120, Halle, Germany

    Nicol Fuentes, Ingolf Kühn & Stefan Klotz

  3. Institute of Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Am Kirchtor 1, 06108, Halle, Germany

    Nicol Fuentes

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  1. Nicol Fuentes
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  2. Eduardo Ugarte
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  4. Stefan Klotz
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Correspondence to Nicol Fuentes.

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Fuentes, N., Ugarte, E., Kühn, I. et al. Alien plants in southern South America. A framework for evaluation and management of mutual risk of invasion between Chile and Argentina. Biol Invasions 12, 3227–3236 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-010-9716-9

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