Plant Invasion Biology

Welcome to one of our institutes' research focus areas: plant invasion biology

Biological invasions are gradually and increasingly transforming the fascinating biogeographic diversity on our planet. Dispersal barriers are removed by anthropogenic transport resulting in increasingly similar biotas across continents. Humans continue to subject existing ecosystems to profitable landuse regimes opening the door for invasions of alien species. The new invaders may displace native species, transform ecosystem function and some eventually interfere seriously with human welfare, be it economic losses, threats to our health or simply an emotional loss of home country.

Our institute's main research efforts gear towards understanding of plant invasions, joining other institutions in a major global effort to unravel the causes of plant invasions as a basis for efficient management. The projects planned in this field build upon years of experience in case studies on plant invasion problems at our institute.

In our current and planned projects we take an integrated approach to tackle the complex phenomena of plant invasions:

• We try to understand how the major causal dimensions of plant invasions, species invasiveness, habitat invasibility and propagule pressure interact to produce the patterns and developments observed.
• We also focus on the role of genetic variability and evolutionary processes as major drivers of plant invasions.
• We suggest to distinguish between a primary and a secondary phase of invasion, reflecting changes in the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms of plant invasions.
• We investigate islands and mountain areas as model systems of plant invasions.
• We increasingly build up international collaboration to face the global dimension of the problem.