Alien phytogeographic regions of southern Africa: numerical classification, possible drivers, and regional threats.

The distributions of naturalised alien plant species that have invaded natural or semi-natural habitat are often geographically restricted by the environmental conditions in their new range, implying that alien species with similar environmental requirements and tolerances may form assemblages and c...

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Autores principales:	Sanet Hugo, Berndt J Van Rensburg, Abraham E Van Wyk, Yolande Steenkamp
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/b685a6db98b04b7c9415b95b89ce49b1
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:b685a6db98b04b7c9415b95b89ce49b1
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:b685a6db98b04b7c9415b95b89ce49b12021-11-18T07:19:40ZAlien phytogeographic regions of southern Africa: numerical classification, possible drivers, and regional threats.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0036269https://doaj.org/article/b685a6db98b04b7c9415b95b89ce49b12012-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22574145/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203The distributions of naturalised alien plant species that have invaded natural or semi-natural habitat are often geographically restricted by the environmental conditions in their new range, implying that alien species with similar environmental requirements and tolerances may form assemblages and characterise particular areas. The aim of this study was to use objective numerical techniques to reveal any possible alien phytogeographic regions (i.e. geographic areas with characteristic alien plant assemblages) in southern Africa. Quarter degree resolution presence records of naturalised alien plant species of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and Botswana were analysed through a divisive hierarchical classification technique, and the output was plotted on maps for further interpretation. The analyses revealed two main alien phytogeographic regions that could be subdivided into eight lower level phytogeographic regions. Along with knowledge of the environmental requirements of the characteristic species and supported by further statistical analyses, we hypothesised on the main drivers of alien phytogeographic regions, and suggest that environmental features such as climate and associated biomes were most important, followed by human activities that modify climatic and vegetation features, such as irrigation and agriculture. Most of the characteristic species are not currently well-known as invasive plant species, but many may have potential to become troublesome in the future. Considering the possibility of biotic homogenization, these findings have implications for predicting the characteristics of the plant assemblages of the future. However, the relatively low quality of the dataset necessitates further more in-depth studies with improved data before the findings could be directly beneficial for management.Sanet HugoBerndt J Van RensburgAbraham E Van WykYolande SteenkampPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 5, p e36269 (2012)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Sanet Hugo Berndt J Van Rensburg Abraham E Van Wyk Yolande Steenkamp Alien phytogeographic regions of southern Africa: numerical classification, possible drivers, and regional threats.
description	The distributions of naturalised alien plant species that have invaded natural or semi-natural habitat are often geographically restricted by the environmental conditions in their new range, implying that alien species with similar environmental requirements and tolerances may form assemblages and characterise particular areas. The aim of this study was to use objective numerical techniques to reveal any possible alien phytogeographic regions (i.e. geographic areas with characteristic alien plant assemblages) in southern Africa. Quarter degree resolution presence records of naturalised alien plant species of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and Botswana were analysed through a divisive hierarchical classification technique, and the output was plotted on maps for further interpretation. The analyses revealed two main alien phytogeographic regions that could be subdivided into eight lower level phytogeographic regions. Along with knowledge of the environmental requirements of the characteristic species and supported by further statistical analyses, we hypothesised on the main drivers of alien phytogeographic regions, and suggest that environmental features such as climate and associated biomes were most important, followed by human activities that modify climatic and vegetation features, such as irrigation and agriculture. Most of the characteristic species are not currently well-known as invasive plant species, but many may have potential to become troublesome in the future. Considering the possibility of biotic homogenization, these findings have implications for predicting the characteristics of the plant assemblages of the future. However, the relatively low quality of the dataset necessitates further more in-depth studies with improved data before the findings could be directly beneficial for management.
format	article
author	Sanet Hugo Berndt J Van Rensburg Abraham E Van Wyk Yolande Steenkamp
author_facet	Sanet Hugo Berndt J Van Rensburg Abraham E Van Wyk Yolande Steenkamp
author_sort	Sanet Hugo
title	Alien phytogeographic regions of southern Africa: numerical classification, possible drivers, and regional threats.
title_short	Alien phytogeographic regions of southern Africa: numerical classification, possible drivers, and regional threats.
title_full	Alien phytogeographic regions of southern Africa: numerical classification, possible drivers, and regional threats.
title_fullStr	Alien phytogeographic regions of southern Africa: numerical classification, possible drivers, and regional threats.
title_full_unstemmed	Alien phytogeographic regions of southern Africa: numerical classification, possible drivers, and regional threats.
title_sort	alien phytogeographic regions of southern africa: numerical classification, possible drivers, and regional threats.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2012
url	https://doaj.org/article/b685a6db98b04b7c9415b95b89ce49b1
work_keys_str_mv	AT sanethugo alienphytogeographicregionsofsouthernafricanumericalclassificationpossibledriversandregionalthreats AT berndtjvanrensburg alienphytogeographicregionsofsouthernafricanumericalclassificationpossibledriversandregionalthreats AT abrahamevanwyk alienphytogeographicregionsofsouthernafricanumericalclassificationpossibledriversandregionalthreats AT yolandesteenkamp alienphytogeographicregionsofsouthernafricanumericalclassificationpossibledriversandregionalthreats
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Alien phytogeographic regions of southern Africa: numerical classification, possible drivers, and regional threats.

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