Features of development of invasive species assessment and control protocols for different groups of plant communities

Abstract

The study of invasive alien species is carried out on a large scale because the economic and ecological damage caused by biological invasions is enormous. However, no unified approach to describing invasive populations has been developed so far. In the framework of alien plant inventory in Russia, the authors have developed the “Invasive Species Assessment Protocol”, which is a tool for assessing, categorizing and including in the “black”-lists any invasive alien plant species according to its impact on native species and natural biodiversity over a large geographic area. “The Protocol” contains five basic elements of the inventory: 1) taxonomic affiliation, life form, and natural range of species; 2) ecological impact; 3) current distribution and population size; 4) trends in abundance of populations or its size; and 5) ability to control alien species dissemination. “Protocol” is presented as the special blank for description of local invasive population. The description is very brief but, if necessary, additional information about the process of invasion of each alien species can be added to it. Specific additions to the protocol for some national economic objects: railroads, introduction institutions, Specially Protected Natural Areas (SPNA) are offered. Examples of using the Protocol during the inventory of invasive species on the Trans-Siberian Railway, in the NV Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden, and in the some Protected Natural Areas are given.