Predicting Invasions of Nonindigenous Plants and Plant Pests (2002) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-13
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
Examples of these pests are the chestnut blight fungus (Cryphonectria parasitical, which all but eliminated the American chestnut from northeastern forests early in the 20th century; hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae Annand) and balsam woolly adelgid (A.
|
From page 2... ...
· Identify and analyze circumstances that could allow nonindigenous species to become invaders, considering the biotic and abiotic characteristics of potentially affected ecosystems, including agricultural systems, and the characteristics of nonindigenous plant pests that contribute to their potential invasiveness. · Determine the extent to which scientific principles and procedures can characterize the invasive potential of nonindigenous plant pests and determine the degree of uncertainty intrinsic in such characterizations.
|
From page 3... ...
Information that has already been collected on potential plant pests and on the events surrounding known invasions suggests that there are biological "leads" that could be followed to improve predictive capabilities. The committee's report examines those leads in substantial detail, and they are summarized here.
|
From page 4... ...
Despite those limitations, the PIN database is a potentially valuable resource; collaborative efforts of APHIS officials and scientists in different disciplines to analyze the data could do much to enhance our understanding of the pathways by which potential invaders arrive in the United States. In contrast with arthropods and pathogens, introductions of most nonindigenous plants into the United States are intentional.
|
From page 5... ...
and biotic forces (such as the availability of hosts, vectors, pollinators, or mutualists and the presence of competitors, predators, and pathogen antagonists) also affect the establishment of nonindigenous plants, arthropods, and pathogens.
|
From page 6... ...
, high seed production, a capacity for seed dormancy and germination cuing, and the ability to use light efficiently. In some plant groups, a combination of those traits has been shown to have predictive power in identifying invasive species, and these results should be useful in assessing new plant introductions in the taxonomic groups in question.
|
From page 7... ...
The loss in aesthetic value incurred when a biotic invasion occurs in a national park or national monument undercuts much of the rationale for the land's protection in the first place. There can also be cumulative and indirect effects of invasion by more than one nonindigenous species.
|
From page 8... ...
Alternative methods that incorporate quantitative scenario analysis constitute an improved approach despite the lingering subjectivity in the probability distribution attached to events. The weakness in prediction among current models of potential invasiveness and of risk assessments does not mean that they are unscientific.
|
From page 9... ...
There are currently no known broad scientific principles or reliable procedures for identifying the invasive potential of plants, plant pests, or biological control agents in new geographic ranges, but a conceptual basis exists for understanding invasions that could be developed into predictive principles. Conclusion 3.
|
From page 10... ...
Improved technology to detect hitchhiking insects and plant pathogens arriving with cargo, baggage, and related commodities could improve the utility of the PIN database (as well as reduce opportunities for new, potentially invasive pests to immigrate)
|
From page 11... ...
The framework used by USDA to evaluate imported plants for potential release as forage, crops, soil reclamation, and ornamental landscaping should be expanded to include rapid multitiered evaluation of the hazards that these species might pose. Controlled experimental field screening for potentially invasive species should be pursued for species whose features are associated with establishment and rapid spread without cultivation and whose immigration history is unknown.
|
From page 12... ...
A central repository of information relevant to immigrant species would accelerate efforts to strengthen the scientific basis of predicting invasion. Information collected by federal, state, and international agencies, academic researchers, and others should be brought together in a single information facility or service so that it can be evaluated collectively, to permit the construction of needed datasets and the design of appropriate experiments, and to document the circumstances surrounding invasions.
|
From page 13... ...
The challenge of constructing a scientific basis for predicting the risk associated with nonindigenous species needs to be met by a significant national effort, including other agencies within the USDA, other branches of the federal government responsible for research and land management, agricultural and natural resource agencies of state governments, and the scientific community at large.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.