Special Issue "Exotic and Invasive Plant Species Impacting Forests"
QuicklinksA special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2012
Special Issue Editor
Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Shibu Jose
203 Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources Bldg., The Center for Agroforestry, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, School of Natural Resources, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Website: http://www.snr.missouri.edu/forestry/faculty/jose-s.php
E-Mail: joses@missouri.edu
Phone: +1 573 882 0240
Fax: +1 573 882 1977
Interests: ecological sustainability, agroforestry
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In 1958, Charles Elton, a pioneer in population ecology, wrote of how ecological explosions were threatening the world. Nearly half a century later, his early warning has become one of the most important environmental crises of our time. Biological invasions have caused more species extinctions than human induced climate change and are the second leading cause of species extinctions after habitat loss. It is one of the major reasons of biodiversity depletion. Invasive plants, in particular, are to blame for much native species decline and ecosystem degradation.
The invasion of native ecosystems by alien plants can lead to alterations in nutrient cycling, fire regime, hydrology, energy budgets, and native species abundance and survival. There are studies being conducted to answer ecological, environmental, management and socio-economic questions related to invasive alien plans in forested ecosystems the world over. Although the economic and ecological damage caused by alien animal and microbe species are also astounding, the scope of this special issue is limited to alien plant invasions of forested ecosystems. We welcome your submissions.
Prof. Dr. Shibu Jose
Guest Editor
Submission
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed Open Access quarterly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. For the first couple of issues the Article Processing Charge (APC) will be waived for well-prepared manuscripts. English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.
Keywords
- Invasive alien plans
- Invasion theories
- Management tools
- Economics of invasive plants
- Policy frame work
Published Papers (1 paper)
 Forests 2012, 3(2), 190-206; doi:10.3390/f3020190
Received: 19 March 2012; in revised form: 9 April 2012 / Accepted: 24 April 2012 / Published: 3 May 2012
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Planned Papers
Title: Potential Range Expansion of Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica Thunb.) in Southern US Forestlands
Authors: Hsiao-Hsuan Wang, Carissa Wonkka, William E. Grant and William E. Rogers
Affiliation: Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences and Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA; E-Mail: hsuan006@neo.tamu.edu
Abstract: Chinese and European privets are among the most aggressive invasive vine in forestlands of the southern United States. We analyzed extensive field data collected by the US Forest Service covering twelve states to identify potential determinants of invasion and to predict likelihood of further invasion under a variety of possible management strategies. Results of logistic regression, which classified 73.7% of the field plots correctly with regard to species presence and absence, indicated probability of invasion is correlated positively with adjacency (within 300 m) to water bodies, mean daily maximum temperature, site productivity, species diversity, and private land ownership, and is correlated negatively with slope, stand age, artificial regeneration, distance to the nearest road, and fire disturbance. Habitats most at risk to further invasion (likelihood of invasion > 40%) under current conditions occur throughout Mississippi as a center, with a stretching, northward across west Tennessee and west Kentucky, westward across southern Arkansas, eastward across north-central Alabama, and in several counties scattered within northern Southern and eastern Virginia. Invasion likelihoods could be increased by global climate change (2 °C warming) and reduced most by conversion to public land ownership, followed by artificial regeneration and fire disturbance. While conversion of land ownership may be neither feasible nor desirable, this result emphasizes the opportunity for reducing the likelihood of invasions on private lands via increased use of selected management practices.
Keywords: biodiversity; biological invasions; habitat quality; invasive species; multiple logistic regression model
Last update: 17 May 2012