Aliens in the city: Towards identifying non-indigenous floristic hotspots within an urban matrix

Abstract

Urban natural green spaces are becoming increasingly impacted by anthropogenic disturbances, promoting alien plant invasions. Using a rapidly developing city in South Africa as a case study, we related distribution, composition, and ordering of alien plant species to environmental and anthropogenic factors to identify drivers of invasiveness. Vegetation surveys were used to identify and quantify (in terms of composition and density) alien species within 30 natural green spaces. Floristic characteristics were then related to levels of non-natural disturbance and selected abiotic parameters. Based on the relationships observed, selected floristic parameters were used to develop an Alien Invasive Index to identify ‘invasive alien hotspots’. Collectively, 80 alien plant species (from 30 families) were found, 35 of which are invasive. The most speciose families were Asteraceae > Fabaceae > Verbenaceae. Their representatives, specifically the invasive shrubs Lantana camara (Verbenaceae) and Chromolaena odorata (Asteraceae) and alien herbs Conyza sumatrensis, Bidens pilosa and Tagetes minuata (Asteraceae) were also the most dominant in terms of frequency across sites and density. A Principal Component Analysis showed invasive alien plant species composition to be most strongly related to level of disturbance, followed by distance to informal settlement and soil moisture content. The Alien Invasive Index could discriminate between sites with low and high levels of invasiveness, and its suitability was validated by the fact that sites with very high index values were in close proximity to informal settlements. The study demonstrates the value of combining classical in situ vegetation surveys and overlay analysis using Geographic Information System for prioritising green spaces and alien species for management in cities that are limited in terms of financial resources.