Ecological Manipulation of Psidium guajava to Facilitate Secondary Forest Succession in Tropical Forests

John Otuoma,John Nyongesah,Victor Okello,Jesse Owino,Alice Onyango

doi:10.12911/22998993/125586

Abstract

Ecological Manipulation of Psidium guajava to Facilitate Secondary Forest Succession in Tropical Forests

Highlights

Exotic invasive plant species have been studied for several decades because of their potential to invade and adversely transform their new ecosystems [Walker & Steffen 1997; Pimentel et al, 2000; Sakai et al, 2001; Simberloff, 2015; Urquia et al, 2019]
The P. guajava snags were recorded in only one out of the three replicates of the old-growth secondary forest. These results suggested that the occurrence and dominance of P. guajava decreased with progression in secondary forest succession, up to a point where it was completely eliminated through shading by native species
The results indicated that all P. guajava stems were snags in the old-growth secondary forest, an illustration that it had been totally eliminated at this stage of secondary forest succession by being shaded out by significantly taller, multilayered canopies of native tree species

Summary

Introduction

Exotic invasive plant species have been studied for several decades because of their potential to invade and adversely transform their new ecosystems [Walker & Steffen 1997; Pimentel et al, 2000; Sakai et al, 2001; Simberloff, 2015; Urquia et al, 2019]. Most of the studies indicate that these species pose significant ecological and economic risks to their new habitats, with potential adverse impacts on the local biodiversity, ecosystem structure and function, and economic. Psidium guajava L., the common guava, an exotic invader with a great ability to spread and outcompete native species in its new habitats, has become one of the most aggressive exotic invasive plant species in these forests [Global Invasive Species Database, 2015; Adhiambo et al, 2019; Urquia et al, 2019]. Efforts of forest managers to control its spread have not recorded much success, making it a suitable candidate for invasion research

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