Spatial heterogeneity of environmental factors related to the invasion of Hypochaeris radicata in South Korea

Abstract

Early detection of the spatial expansion pattern of alien plants and the associated environmental factors are essential for their management. In this study, we applied regression kriging and geographically weighted regression, which can incorporate spatial autocorrelation into the model, to estimate the critical environmental factors related to the invasion of Hypochaeris radicata into new habitats. We spatially interpolated the occurrence probabilities of H. radicata based on field survey data from 2000–2001 and 2018–2020 to compare the distribution pattern of this species over 20 years. Further, we evaluated the relative importance of environmental variables for the invasion of H. radicata using geographically weighted regression. Based on the results of our model, the expansion of H. radicata was found to be significantly associated with anthropogenic activities, such as human footprinting (HFP) and residential area, and the transportation system area. These results suggest that the primary dispersal forces of H. radicata are human activities, and that roads may be the main corridor of its expansion. Additionally, H. radicata did not invade the forest area over the 20 years. We can predict that this plant may flourish better around big cities because of human activities. Furthermore, deforestation and sporadic mowing can accelerate the expansion of H. radicata because of its preference for sunny spots.