Congress summary: EMAPI 10: Bridging approaches to plant invasions

Abstract

news and update ISSN 1948-6596 congress summary EMAPI 10: Bridging approaches to plant invasions 10th International Conference on the Ecology and Management of Alien Plant Invasions (EMAPi 10) – Stellenbosch, South Africa, 23-27th August 2009 “Invasion biology” has developed considerably in the 17 years since the first meeting on the Ecology and Management of Alien Plant Invasions (EMAPI) in 1992. Biological invasions provide a broad um- brella under which an increasingly wide variety of interdisciplinary studies are conducted. Nowhere was this more clearly illustrated than at this year’s EMAPI 10 conference hosted by the Centre of Ex- cellence for Invasion Biology in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The 31 sessions covered a broad spectrum of topics from understanding ecological and evolutionary mechanisms driving invasions, predicting future invasion patterns and dynamics, to designing and implementing effective manage- ment strategies. More than 230 presenters and attendants came from all continents to discuss the state of the art of invasion ecology and manage- ment. Until now invasion biology has to a large extent been concerned with identifying general patterns and processes, for example particular plant traits or natural enemy release, to explain why, and ultimately to aid in predicting which, taxa become invasive (Richardson and Pysek 2006). Some novel approaches to these problems were discussed during the conference such as the use of altitudinal gradients to tease apart the rela- tive roles of climate, habitat and anthropogenic influences as drivers of invasion using multi-scale, multi-regional comparisons (Pauchard et al. 2009). The conference also reflected the growing impor- tance of an evolutionary perspective. Indeed, a large proportion of the more theoretical presenta- tions addressed evolutionary questions using mo- lecular approaches, for example to reconstruct invasion pathways and assess levels of genetic variation in introduced populations. There was also recognition that climate change will impact patterns of invasion and community invasibility. Several studies used niche modelling approaches to predict some of these changes, but apart from a presentation by Bruce Osborne few attempts to experimentally assess synergistic impacts of cli- mate change and invasion were presented. De- spite the advances, there was generally a lack of presentations which tested or introduced novel theory and mechanisms of invasion. To an extent this might reflect the difficulty of making broad generalisations across invasions. This might also represent a shift towards the use of plant inva- sions as tools to address basic ecological and evo- lutionary questions (e.g. Sax et al. 2007), for ex- ample the evolution of species range margins or breeding systems, rather than as a research topic in its own right. Although theory and management of inva- sions are usually treated separately in the litera- ture, EMAPI meetings have always provided a platform for discussion of the interaction between science and application. One of the main points discussed in the meeting was to what extent we should worry about controlling invasive species in countries with lower resources and where other conservation issues seem to be more urgent (Nunez and Pauchard 2009). However, plenary addresses by Arne Witt and Sue Milton empha- sised the negative impacts of invasive species on human livelihood in sub-Saharan Africa, for exam- ple as a drain on scarce water resources. This is also the message of the South African “Working for Water” programme (http://www.dwaf.gov.za/ wfw/) which employs annually approximately 20,000 people from underprivileged sectors of society in the control of invasive species. As noted by David Richardson, the chief-organizer, this meeting included a large number of managers coming from many developing countries of Africa. This unique opportunity to share experiences be- tween scientists and practitioners should be en- couraged in all scientific meetings, especially when dealing directly with conservation themes. Another important message we can extract from the meeting is the need to clarify the goals and implications of our management actions. © 2009 the authors; journal compilation © 2009 The International Biogeography Society — frontiers of biogeography 1.2, 2009